One moment in time
by CrazyPerson514
Summary: This is AU. In this story the team is young and in protective care for assorted reasons. Gideon and Rossi are in charge; JJ, Prentiss, Hotch, Reid, Elle, Garcia and Morgan are the kids. This will probably be focused on Reid.
1. Chapter 1

**This is AU. In this story the team is young and in protective care for assorted reasons.  
><strong>**Gideon and Rossi are in charge; JJ, Prentiss, Hotch, Reid, Elle, Garcia and Morgan are the kids. This will probably be focused on Reid.  
><strong>**I do not own anything related to Criminal minds and it is doubtful that I ever will. This is my very first attempt at writing anything with a plot so if you are going to be mean at least do it with style.**

Derek was angry.

No, he was furious.

He had a good reason to be angry, not only was he stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of kids who had issues, he had to share his rather small room with a kid who was scared of the dark.

It was three in the morning and as hard as Derek tried he could not sleep with the light on.

Of course the kid couldn't sleep with it off and so Gideon had taken the kids side and told Derek to 'Try sleeping with the night-light, just until Spencer goes home.'

The weird kid had arrived in the middle of the night and Gideon had come in to wake Derek up, introduce him to Spencer, tell him that he had to share his room because it had two beds, and that Spencer was afraid of the dark and needed a night-light to sleep.

He had also said that he was sure they would be great friends. Then he left Derek alone with the kid. Who looked nervous, and seemed to be a functioning mute, and needed a night-light. Yup, they were going to be great friends.

Spencer Reid was scared.

No, scared was not the most accurate adjective to describe what he was feeling.

Terrified was more accurate.

Not the deep penetrating terror that one associates with phobias or the prospect of an early death, but terror nonetheless.

He was alone in the middle of the night in an entirely different state then the one he had grown up in, surrounded by people who did not know him and probably did not want him with them.

It wasn't his fault though, it was the governments fault.

They were the ones that insisted that he be moved from Las Vegas to his temporary home in the middle of Virginia as soon as possible, just because of a few death threats.

Those he could handle, as he had been getting them since he had started high school.

He could not handle being ripped away from everything he knew and left alone in the world all because a Neanderthal with an online psych degree said that his mother was not fit to take care of him anymore.

Spencer was pretty sure that he was going to have a nervous breakdown, and his new 'friend' was not helping things. He had looked like he would have quite cheerfully arranged for Spencer to be skinned alive and roasted when Gideon had told him of the sleeping arrangements.

This was going to be a lot of fun.


	2. It starts at the beginning

**Any mistakes are my own.**

**I own nothing Related to Criminal minds and never will.**

**Thank you to the people who reviewed, added this to their favorites or story alerted this.**

**Constructive criticism is welcome, but if you are going to be mean use your imagination, it's a lot more fun.**

Penelope was the first one of the girls to meet the new arrival. She thought he was the most adorable thing she had ever seen in her life.

Waking up was never fun for Penelope Garcia, even less so when she was getting up at 6 am on a Saturday. When that happened there was a lot of mumbling and threatening hand movements toward her alarm clock. She liked being the first one awake, to make coffee for Gideon and Rossi, and to make sure that the others didn't sleep all day. It could be said that it was her thing, that and computers.

To say that she was shocked when she entered the kitchen would have been putting it mildly. Messing with what she considered her coffeemaker was a little boy who looked extremely out of his element, his back was to her and he was looking at the machine like it was a convicted murderer. "You do realize that it isn't going to eat you, right?" She felt bad as soon as she asked the question, because at her words the little kid jumped and spilled half of the coffee beans he had been holding. Moving forward to help him she got a good look at his face, and he looked terrified.

"You do realize that it isn't going to eat you right?" Spencer almost fell over. He thought he was alone in the kitchen, which was the only reason he was attempting something as possibly disastrous as making coffee. Looking apologetic the owner of the voice moved forward to help him clean up the coffee beans he had spilled everywhere when she had spoken. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, it was just that you looked like the coffee maker was trying to kill you, and since you are new I just wanted to let you know that it wasn't going to go all sci-fi on you and take over your brain."

She offered a huge smile and passed him the beans she had collected while she was speaking. " I'm Penelope Garcia, you can call me Penelope, or Garcia, or Pen, or Goddess, or Sweetness, or Kitten, or if you are feeling really brave you can call me oracle of all things known and unknown."

She paused for a second, seeming to consider something " You are new right? I mean people don't usually break into places to fail at making their coffee."

Spencer stared at her, slightly in awe, he had never heard someone say so much in such a short period of time, especially not someone so bright. Bright was the first word that came to Spencer's mind in relation to Penelope Garcia, she was blonde and she was wearing a lot of bold bright colors that should of clashed when presented together, but instead they created a pleasant affect.

"Um, I don't think that the coffee maker is going to eat me. Yes I am new, and I am not sure if people break into places to 'fail at making coffee' as you say" Spencer felt awkward, and he knew he wasn't his most coherent. If anything though Penelope's smile got larger.

" Aww you are adorable, like a puppy, or some other small furry creature that you want to feed sugary yum-yums." Now Spencer was feeling a little ridiculous, he had woken up with the intention of proving to everyone that he wasn't pathetic and that he could do anything that they could, and he couldn't even make coffee correctly. Then Penelope called him a puppy and said he was going to feed him, he felt like crying. He wanted to go home.

JJ entered the kitchen to see Penelope trying to keep a little kid from crying " JJ help, I don't know what to do. We were talking and he started crying, and he is new, and I made him cry, and just met him, and now he is going to hate me and I don't even know his name" JJ almost started laughing.

She went over to the little kid, who she couldn't help but notice seemed uncomfortable, he was holding what looked like a bag of coffee beans and crying silently. JJ didn't know what to do so she started talking " I'm JJ, I just got here a few months ago, and I know it can seem overwhelming, but it is really a great place. There are some great people here, you met Penelope right? She is awesome, she can find anything online, and she is really funny. And Emily is funny too. She is pretty smart, and she always knows what to do,"

The kid had stopped crying, so she took that as a sign to continue. "What's your name?" She asked gently, Penelope was looking at her like she had just saved an orphanage from burning to the ground. "Spencer Reid" He said it so quietly that she could hardly hear him, and she was right next to him. " That's a cool name, where are you from Spencer?" She led him over to the table, and Penelope started the coffee "Las Vegas." Again JJ fought the desire to laugh, she couldn't imagine anyone who seemed less likely to have grown up in Vegas.

Penelope started making three cups of coffee "Vegas, I've never met anyone from Vegas, why are you here?" The kid was silent and JJ mentally kicked herself, they were all here for reasons they didn't really want to discuss with strangers. As she opened her mouth to retract the question Spencer surprised her. "I'm here because someone wants to kill me." Penelope dropped one of the cups. JJ felt something flip in her stomach, she was saved from coming up with a reasonable response to Spencer's statement when Elle entered the kitchen.

"Is that coffee?"


	3. Say it

**Thank you to Fairytopia for the constructive criticism, it was appreciated.  
><strong>**  
>I own nothing Related to Criminal minds and never will.<br>****  
>Any mistakes are my own.<strong>

**Thank you to the people who reviewed, added this to their favorites or story alerted this.**

**Constructive criticism is welcome. If you are going to be mean use your big kid words, it's much more impressive.**

In her dream someone was screaming for help.

It was a bright sunny day and Elle could feel the summer breeze on her face, she could tell it was a dream because the colors were too vivid. The sky was impossibly blue and cloudless, and the grass a green that could never be achieved in real life.

The screaming was coming from the woods that lay on the outer fringe of the park. Elle wanted to help whoever was screaming because it seemed more important than anything else, but she couldn't move, it felt like her feet were stuck at the edge of the woods. Elle was gripped by a sense of foreboding, something was really wrong.

The screaming stopped, and the air got colder, so cold that it froze in her lungs, and then she was running, feeling her way blindly through the woods, she could feel the trees but she couldn't see them, the sun had gone out. The ground was frozen and wet, she tripped over something and went down hard.

A moon came out, melting like wax down the sky and she saw that she had tripped over a person, and that she wasn't in the woods at all, but on a field of dead frozen grass.

The wetness she had felt was blood. The person sat up and she realized with a jolt of something beyond fear that he wasn't dead, though he obviously should have been.  
>Half of his face was missing and what was left was a bloody mess of rotting flesh with far too many teeth. Elle tried to scream but the smell of the corpse filled her lungs and formed a blockade, she was suffocating and no one was there to help her.<p>

Elle sat up stifling a scream. she lay down for a minute to allow her heart rate and respiration to get out of the danger zone.

She could hear voices in the kitchen and since she knew she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, she figured she might as well join whoever was awake. Groaning she stood up. The nightmare was always the same, it had started about six months ago right after the incident, and she was really getting fed up of dreaming the same thing.

In the morning light the fear she had felt made her disgusted with her self. She had known it was a dream and she had known what was going to happen next, but she still let it scare her.

She stood outside the door to the kitchen for a minute to figure out what was going on, she could hear JJ talking to someone, but she couldn't really hear what they said in return.  
>JJ said something else and there was a pause before whoever she was talking to said something else. A cup dropped but didn't shatter and Elle figured it was time to intervene.<p>

"Is that coffee?" Elle asked.

What she saw was strange to say the least, Penelope was picking up a cup that Elle presumed she had dropped, or knocked over. JJ was looking at some little boy like he had told her he had cancer or something. Oh well, maybe he did.

"What did I miss?" Since her first question had gone unanswered she figured she would try another one. "Nothing really, this is Spencer. I think he is new here." It was Penelope who had answered, Elle grinned, sitting down at the seat to the right of Spencer, "Oh yeah, I heard Gideon and Rossi talking about you the other day. Welcome to freak city, in a nice way of course."

"You heard them talking about him?" Elle looked over at JJ, who had raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't think they knew I was there though." Elle took a sip of the coffee Penelope put in front of her, looking at Spencer critically.

He was a little on the skinny side, and he looked like he would jump out of his skin if you said boo. Elle liked him right away. "Did you warn our new arrival about all the people here?" For some reason JJ ignored the question, she was watching Spencer pour sugar in his coffee with a look on her face like she wanted to say something that would make him uncomfortable. So again she turned to Penelope for a response. If JJ wanted to ignore her she didn't care.

"Nope, well sort of. JJ told him about me and Emily, but he was crying so I'm not sure if he actually heard her."

Elle tried not to laugh, she really did, but the idea that JJ or Penelope could make someone, even someone who seemed as scared as Spencer, cry was laughable.

"How exactly did you make my new best friend cry?" Penelope sat down, "It wasn't my fault we were sort of talking because I made him spill the coffee stuff, and he started crying and besides, JJ came and made him stop."

JJ finally looked away from Spencer and addressed Elle "Since when do you have a best friend? Since when do you like people?"Elle grinned and watched Spencer take a sip of coffee "Since when do you care. Maybe I am madly in love with Spencer, and plan on using him and our offspring to take over the world." Spencer turned bright red and choked on his coffee. JJ started patting his back in an attempt to quell the coughing.

"That wasn't very nice Elle." she remarked disapprovingly, Elle just smiled. Derek's voice came from the door "Yeah, you aren't supposed to kill the new kid before he dies of boredom, its not fair to the rest of us." Elle started laughing "Morning sleeping beauty. How was your night?"

Derek had a mildly disgruntled look on his face. "It was great after I finally fell asleep, Gideon put the new kid with me, and since he's afraid of the dark there was a light on all night."

Emily pushed Derek out of the doorway as she moved toward the fridge "Derek stop whining. What new kid?"

Penelope grinned proudly and waved her hands toward Spencer "This is Spencer Reid, he's from Las Vegas and Elle wants to have babies with him." Emily looked at Elle who was laughing even harder, "I think he's a little young for you, sorry."

Spencer blushed an even brighter shade of red and JJ and Penelope started giggling.

"What's so funny? It's not even eight in the morning. Normal people are sleeping right now." That set off another round of laughter from the girls. Derek grinned at the new arrival, "Hey Hotch, did you meet the new kid yet? His name is Spencer and Elle is in love with him."

Aaron Hotchner surveyed the group in front of him. Penelope, JJ, Emily and Elle were all laughing. Derek looked tired but amused and the new kid, Spencer, looked like he wished the floor would rise up and consume him. Poor kid, the corner of Aarons mouth twitched a little.

"Gideon and Rossi are up, they told me to tell you that because Spencer is new, therapy is going to be right after breakfast instead of lunch, and Rossi wants you guys to know that if all the coffee is gone he will be very upset."


	4. I can't feel the way I did before

David Rossi was too old to be doing what he was doing, at least that's what he told anyone who would listen. He knew his limits. He knew his strengths and weaknesses. Taking of children was not one of the things he considered himself strong in.

However when an old friend had asked for help taking care of a little boy who had witnessed his brothers murder he couldn't refuse. It wasn't that he was good friends with Gideon, in fact they fought more than an old married couple, it was that he had asked for help.

So Rossi had agreed to help Gideon temporarily watch over a then 12 year old Aaron Hotchner. That had been six years ago.

When ambassador Prentiss had asked them to watch her daughter for an indeterminate amount of time because she didn't want Emily to interfere with her work neither one of them could really say no. She was a very powerful woman and, like she had said, they were the best in the FBI. Poor Emily wasn't much younger than Aaron, only two years younger.

They had agreed to house Elle after her fathers death because she had no where else to go. That and they were getting a reputation as babysitters. Since her and Emily were the same age they had gotten along very well.

When Garcia with her hacking ability had gone on the FBI's radar, both Gideon and Rossi had volunteered to watch over her. Someone that young didn't belong in prison. At the time she was only 14, one year younger than Elle.

After Derek was involved in a questionable death and made a federal witness most people assumed that Gideon and Rossi would take him. He was older than Emily by eight months, Rossi thought that was good. Aaron needed a friend to trust, and since Derek was closer to his age than Emily, Elle, or Garcia it was likley that they would get along.

It was only temporary, and Gideon didn't like to disappoint.

It was around the time that JJ's sister killed herself that Rossi started to think that he might of jumped the gun with the whole helping thing. He had been on the case in the beginning, when it had looked like a serial killer. Rossi told himself that it was only because of that he agreed to watch JJ when her parents couldn't deal with her. Having four teenage girls whose ages were only a few months apart was not fun all the time, and Rossi was done accepting other peoples children.

It was Gideon who had decided that Spencer Reid would stay with them while Charles Hankel awaited trial. He was young, younger than anyone else that Gideon and Rossi were watching.

Rossi wasn't too pleased about that. It wasn't that he thought the child would be better somewhere else, he hated that Gideon had left no room for argument when he had said Spencer Reid would be in their custody until the trial was over, and his mother was declared competent. That got David more than a little furious. but he wouldn't blame the kid. He would give him the same treatment he gave everyone else. At least that's what David told himself as the kids sat down for the mandated therapy session.

Emily felt sort of bad for the new kid. Not bad enough to do anything drastic about it. Nonetheless the sympathy was there.

She knew firsthand what it was like to be surrounded by people that she didn't know. Emily pitied Spencer, if only because the rest of them had been there longer and knew what to expect from Gideon and Rossi.

Poor Spencer was new. He was also really young.

For moral support she sat on his right side at the round table. He was going to need all the help he could get.

Aaron was interested in learning more about Spencer Reid. It was unusual for Gideon to seek out a charge, and it made him wonder if there was more to the kid then met the eye. It wasn't that he was jealous. Aaron Hotchner didn't get jealous, he was just curious.

Derek felt sort of bad about teasing the kid. Sure, it was the kids fault that it had taken Derek almost two hours to fall asleep, but it was doubtful the kid could control his fears. He was little. Besides, Derek was pretty sure that the kid was a mute. Not really a bad thing in his books, considering how loud JJ, Emily, Elle, and Garcia are.

To show the kid that there were no hard feelings about the whole night-light thing Derek sat at his left when the seats were chosen.

JJ was nervous about therapy for Spencer. Even though she had met him less than six hours before, she liked him, and felt responsible for him. Also, she knew Gideon had a knack for getting the truth out of people, and she didn't think she really wanted to know all of his secrets. As everyone took their seats she tried not to think about what would motivate someone to want to kill a little kid.

Rossi and Gideon were the last ones to sit down, Gideon sat between Aaron and Emily and Rossi sat between Penelope and JJ. The seating arrangement was used to put everyone at ease although Rossi sincerely doubted it worked. It was much more likely that Gideon had wanted to make him as uncomfortable as possible by putting him in between the two people at the table most likely to get emotional.

As usual it was Gideon who got the ball rolling "I know that we usually have the therapy sessions after lunch but because Spencer is new here, I thought we could get it out of the way early, and do something fun later. Is everyone ok with that?" there were general murmurs of assent from everyone at the table. "Would anyone like to start?" Gideon asked the question as though he already knew the answer. "No. Ok, Spencer since you're new why don't you start today's session. Tell us a little bit about yourself."

Spencer looked terrified at the very idea. "What do you want to know?"

Gideon smiled reassuringly and Spencer fidgeted, "Some background information would be nice. You don't have to say anything you don't want to."

Elle was getting bored, she wanted to sit next to Spencer but Derek and Emily had taken the seats on either side of him before she could. She glared at them. It wasn't fair, Derek didn't even really like Spencer.

"Um, my name is Spencer Reid and I used to live in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am twelve years old and a senior in high school. My moms name is Diana Reid and I was put into protective custody two weeks ago."

Garcia did not expect Spencer to be a genius. Not that she thought he was stupid. She just didn't think that he was smart enough to be a senior in high school, she didn't really think any twelve year old was smart enough to be a senior in high school.

Derek was in shock. "How old are you?" Spencer looked nervous when he answered

"Twelve"

Derek looked even more shocked, "And you are still scared of the dark? Aren't you a little old for that?" Penelope kicked him under the table. Hard. " Fear of the dark is a common fear in children and even some adults" Spencer sounded almost offended, though he looked oddly relieved.

Rossi was a little surprised, Gideon had told him the kid was smart but really, high school at twelve was a little much. He almost started laughing when Derek pointed out that Spencer was too old to be scared of the dark. The idea that Spencer was too old for anything other than diaper changes seemed almost ludicrous.

Elle spoke in Spencer's defense "Oh please, aren't you a little old to be scared of Halloween?" JJ and Penelope started laughing.

"I'm not scared of Halloween, ok, I'm just not a huge fan of weird people running around in masks, wielding deadly weapons."

Emily started laughing "Oh come on, weird people running around in masks? Most of the people you see are five year old princesses, I doubt they carry many deadly weapons."

Derek looked insulted "We have obviously been looking at different people, Halloween is creepy ok. Aren't we in therapy Gideon?"

Gideon just shrugged his shoulders "I am not in a very therapeutic mood with Emily and Elle being all mean to me and stuff." Gideon looked Derek in the eyes "Do you want to talk about it?"

Spencer started laughing. Derek looked around the table "And everyone gangs up on me, thanks people. Just wait Gideon, I'm going to get you good."

Gideon smiled and looked over at Spencer, at least he was coming out of his shell.

Gideon had been a bit worried when he had first met Spencer, he didn't expect someone so young to be so serious.

The laughter died down in a few minutes and it was replaced with talking.

JJ and Penelope told everyone about Spencer's mishap with the coffee, but they left out the part where Spencer told JJ about someone wanting him dead.

Some things were better left alone.


	5. Just to prove that I knew how

**I apologize for any confusion about the information presented in the last chapter.  
>It may not of been clear, Reid and Hotch are not the same age, Reid is 12 but Hotch is several years older.<br>Hotch was put with Rossi and Gideon when he was 12. I have changed the last chapter to explain that better.  
>I am sorry for any inconvenience caused.<br>I do not own criminal you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts.  
>Constructive criticism is welcome.<strong>

Emily thought it wasn't really a big deal. Spencer had said he was a senior, and since no one knew how long he was going to stay it was logical to assume that he would be enrolled in school, just like everyone else.

Aaron thought it would be bad for Spencer to get immersed in the subjects and the curriculum only to leave at some point in the near future.

Garcia was supportive of whatever Spencer wanted, and since he wanted to go to school she supported him.

Elle didn't care whether or not Spencer went to school, as long as everyone knew that he was her friend and that she would hurt anyone who annoyed him.

JJ stayed silent on the subject, she didn't think that it was necessary to input her opinion. He was either going to go to school or he was going to stay at the house while everyone else went to school.

Derek seemed to have the biggest problem with it.

Derek thought Spencer was going to get beat up. A lot. Kids in high school could be mean, really mean. A twelve year old who was smarter than everyone else wasn't going to be welcomed with open arms.

He had tried to reason with everyone else, to make them see that it would be best if Spencer held off on the whole school thing until he was back around the people he had grown up with.

The school debate had started the Monday after Spencer had arrived, he had wanted to go and Gideon had wanted to give him time to acclimate.

That had been nearly a week before and it was only after Rossi, mostly because he was irritated at Reid for constantly asking for more books, had told Gideon in no uncertain terms that Reid would be going to the local high school with the rest of the kids starting Monday that everyone else decided to input their opinions.

Derek was still hoping that he could try and talk the kid out of his decision."You're like twenty pounds, JJ could beat you up. No offense kid, but you might as well hang a target on your back. Wait until you are back in Vegas with the people who don't care how freaky smart you are before you go to school. Why do you still go to school anyways? You already know everything." Spencer frowned absentmindedly and moved a pawn.

"My weight is within the healthy range for my height, age, and stature, JJ could beat _you_ up, and I don't know everything thank you."

It was Sunday evening and Spencer and Emily were involved in a very intense game of chess. Derek was watching them and trying to persuade Spencer not to go to school on Monday.

Everyone else was busy in someway.

Elle was at the library working on homework she had neglected thus far.

Penelope was online in her and JJ's shared room talking to her boyfriend Kevin.

JJ was helping her ethics partner Will on a project at his house.

Aaron was at his girlfriend Haley's house helping her parents paint their living room.

Rossi was teaching a class on interrogation techniques for the FBI.

Gideon was cooking dinner in the kitchen.

Emily grinned "I see checkmate in five." Derek threw her a look of exasperation.

"You aren't helping anything Emily."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Well sorry for not wanting to ruin boy wonders hopes and dreams."

Reid, who had been studying the chess board looked up frowning "Boy wonder? Is that really necessary?"

Emily raised her eyebrows, Spencer looked like a kitten when he made that face "It's from Garcia."

Reid let his eyes drop down to the chess board again In the eight days he had been with the motley group he had gotten relatively close to most of them. Considering that they all had trust issues, and that he would be leaving once he was allowed to, it had come as a surprise to Spencer that any of them would want to get to know him at all.

Aaron had joined Spencer in his debates against Gideon.

JJ had adopted Spencer as her unofficial secret keeper.

Elle had told everyone she had seen that Spencer was her best friend, and as such he was to be treated with respect.

Emily had joined Spencer while he played chess and she had beaten him a few times.

Morgan had tried to teach him some self-defense skills.

Garcia had given him a large number of odd nicknames.

Spencer appreciated their efforts.

"Checkmate." Elle looked at Spencer in shock "How did you do that?"

Morgan spoke before Spencer could. "While I'm sure boy-genius has a wonderful explanation that would ansewr any questions you will ever have about chess, I would really like him to focus on school. Or, on not going and being smart, come on kid. I'm sure that if you asked Gideon or Rossi they would give the school a really cool excuse on why you cant go."

Spencer looked at Derek and tried to keep his voice even. "I want to go, I don't want to stay here all day while everyone else is out learning. Besides I have been dealing with bullies for my entire life, I think by now I have learned how to take care of them."

"JJ Garcia and I already said we will kick anyone's ass if they mess with you." Emily was trying not to smile at the look on Spencer's face, he looked mad. "I love how everyone thinks I need people to protect me, it is really good for my self confidence."

Derek looked annoyed "Whatever, if you want to go to school have fun, its your funeral."

"Both you and Derek will be there to watch him in case anything gets out of hand, and Elle, JJ, and Emily already agreed to escort him to his classes." Gideon seemed rather calm about the whole thing "Dinner's ready."


	6. The confusion sets in

**I do not own criminal minds.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts.**

**Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

Spencer didn't sleep at all Sunday night.

He was nervous, he hadn't been lying to Derek when he had said he wanted to go to school, but he didn't think the rest of the students would appreciate him.

He saw a light go on in the kitchen at four a.m., and went to investigate, to his surprise it was Aaron.

"Good morning."

Spencer tried not to look directly into Aaron's eyes as he greeted him, even though Spencer knew Aaron would never hurt him, he was still rather intimidated by the older boy.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Aaron didn't even look up from whatever he was drinking when Spencer asked the question.

Spencer grinned weakly. "I decided to get an early start."

There was an awkward silence as both occupants of the kitchen looked anywhere but at each other, Spencer sat down at the table and tried once more to imitate conversation.

"What about you? Do you always get up this early?"

Aaron stood up and put his cup in the sink.

"No."

He left the kitchen and entered his room.

Spencer sat in silence for a long time, he really hoped the rest of his day wasn't this bad.

x

His dad was angry, that was the first conscious thought that Aaron Hotchner had upon waking.

The very air seemed to be tense and angry, waiting for the blowup that was bound to happen. He didn't want to get out of bed, he knew that something bad was going to happen.

Aaron knew that if he didn't get up then his brother would probably get into trouble.

Sean was only ten, Aaron had to protect him.

He got up and made his way downstairs, it was cold and he could see his breath in front of him, he couldn't really feel it because his body was numb, a strange numb.

Simultaneously hot and cold.

When he got downstairs he saw that Sean was already sitting with their father at the table, it was silent and they seemed have been waiting for Aaron.

He took a seat and stared at the plate that was already in place for him.

"Good morning Aaron." It was his father. Aaron knew he had to answer.

There was a strange spider web pattern on the table top.

"I said, good morning Aaron." Aaron tried to form the proper response, but the words wouldn't come.

He could feel his chest tightening, he looked over at Sean.

Sean was looking back, he seemed even more scared than Aaron.

His dad was yelling now, but Aaron couldn't hear him. He knew that if he didn't listen it would just get worse, but he was looking at Sean.

Sean's lips were blue, his face was too pale, and the veins were clearly defined, almost purple against his skin.

The table was thrown across the room and Sean fell over. Aaron needed to get up and check on Sean, but he couldn't.

Then the table, his brother, his father, their house, everything, was gone and Aaron was left alone with nothing, too scared to move.

X

Aaron hated nightmares, he knew that everyone got them, but he still hated them.

They made him less, less of who he was, who he had to be.

They were childish and immature and they scared him.

He didn't get them often, when he did he preferred that no one knew.

He looked at his alarm clock and saw it was only four a.m. he knew he wasn't going to fall asleep if he just sat there thinking about his dream, so he got up and made his way to the kitchen.

He could see a light on in Derek's room, the kid, Spencer, was scared of the dark.

Aaron got some milk and sat at the table.

Gideon said that dreams were a way for your subconscious to let you know what you were thinking, Aaron didn't know if that was true.

"Good morning."

Aaron looked at the kid. He was tiny, and he still refused to look Aaron in the eyes, like he was afraid that Aaron was going to hurt him.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Aaron looked back at his drink, sleeping wasn't the problem, staying asleep on the other hand…

The kid was obviously nervous, he tried to smile and failed miserably as he spoke again.

"I decided to get an early start."

Liar. The kid looked like he hadn't slept in a week, which he probably hadn't.

Spencer sat at the table with Aaron,

"What about you? Do you always get up this early?"

Aaron tried not to get angry, why the hell did the kid ask so many stupid questions.

Aaron got up and put his still half full cup in the sink, he was feeling sick.

The poor kid looked like he was going to cry, so Aaron decided to answer him.

"No."

He went back to his room, shut the door, and sat on the end of his bed until his alarm clock went off at six-thirty.

Time for school.


	7. Hope in the hopeless

**I do not own criminal minds.**  
><strong>Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. <strong>  
><strong>Constructive criticism is welcome.<strong>

Spencer's first day of school started out fine.

Morgan drove him and Elle to school, and JJ and Emily walked him to his first class.

The school wasn't very large, but there were enough people to make him nervous.

Morgan went off to find his foot ball buddies, and Elle only left him to JJ and Emily after he promised to sit with her at lunch.

Gideon had arranged it so that they all had the same lunch.

X

Spencer walked in his first block ignoring the strange looks he was getting from his classmates. The teacher started taking attendance.

"Spencer Reid." Spencer felt slightly nauseous,

"Here."

The teacher looked up. "You're new right?"

Spencer nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Well, welcome to AP physics, we're lucky to have you."

The teacher gave him a friendly smile and went back to the attendance.

The other students were openly staring at him now, some looked surprised, and some looked angry.  
>The classroom door opened<p>

"Mr. Jackson, glad you decided to join us"

The teacher sounded sarcastic now

"I hope this class doesn't interfere with anything important you have planned."

Spencer studied 'Mr. Jackson' he looked mostly bored. He seemed a little younger than the rest of the students.

The students were now glaring at 'Mr. Jackson' who was still in the doorway.

"Why don't you sit next to Spencer. Sorry Spencer, but there aren't any other seats open."

The teenager went over to his seat without looking up once.

"Mr. Jackson, don't be late again."

Several of the students started laughing.

As the teacher started class, Spencer leaned toward his new neighbor.

"I'm Spencer Reid. I'm new here. What's your name?"

Spencer tried to keep his voice low enough that the teacher couldn't hear him.

The teen looked toward Spencer once quickly

"Adam Jackson. Nice to meet you Spencer."

Spencer smiled at Adam, though he was unsure whether or not Adam saw it. He had made a new friend. Sort of.

X

Adam Jackson hated school.

Hated it.

The students were jerks, the classes were boring, and the teachers were too busy picking favorites to enforce the rules.

High school to Adam was one giant cesspool of pain and rage.

It didn't help with the whole bullying thing that he was a senior and he was only sixteen.

X

He tried to get to his classes on time, really he did.

But it took Adam almost twenty minutes to get out of the janitors closet after Nathan Toussaint locked him in there.

When he finally got to AP physics he could tell class had already started.

He opened the door and stood in the doorway, the seating arrangement changed on a regular basis, and if he stood long enough the teacher would tell him where to sit.

"Mr. Jackson, glad you decided to join us."

But not without throwing in a snarky comment first.

"I hope this class doesn't interfere with anything important you have planned."

Adam didn't have to look up to know that his classmates were staring at him like he was the newest freak attraction in a sideshow.

In a way he was.

"Why don't you sit next to Spencer. Sorry Spencer, but there aren't any other seats open."

Who the heck was Spencer? Adam looked up. The kid studying him like he was a cheat sheet, makes sense. Spencer seemed to be the only one not laughing.

Too bad the kid was like ten, it wasn't going to be fun for him here.

Class started and Adam tried not to fall asleep.

"I'm Spencer Reid. I'm new here. What's your name?"

Adam looked over at the kid and then back down at his desk.

New, really? He never would have guessed, what with all the ten year olds running around the place.

The kid didn't look like he was going to go away anytime soon.

"Adam Jackson. Nice to meet you Spencer."

Spencer smiled and Adam tried not to feel bad, poor kid was really going to regret trying to make friends with him by the end of the day.

X

Elle looked around the cafeteria anxiously, lunch had started fifteen minutes ago and Spencer still wasn't there.

Morgan had walked him to his second block class and Elle herself had walked him to his third block class, it was only like thirty seconds away from the cafeteria.

"Geez Elle, calm down, kid probably got caught up talking to the teacher about the quadratic theory or something."

Morgan seemed wholly unconcerned with Spencer's absence.

Emily looked over at Morgan grinning

"What do you know about the quadratic theory?"

Morgan threw a fry at her

"Enough to know it is something kid would be interested in."

JJ threw one of her chips at Morgan

"Why do you call Spence 'kid'? Its kind of insulting don't you think?"

Morgan put a hand over his heart "Baby Girl, everyone is ganging up on me. Help."

Garcia started laughing.

"I think its cute that you gave Spencer a nickname. Nicknames are nice."

Morgan smiled wider.

"Yeah, I'm being nice. What do you think Elle? Is 'kid' an insulting nickname."

Elle was still looking around for Spencer.

"Elle, earth to Elle."

Emily waved a hand in front of Elle's face

"She is completely out of it."

Elle stood up and started walking toward the back of the cafeteria, near the emergency exits.

Morgan watched her walk away. "Ten bucks says she pulls the fire alarm."

X

Spencer couldn't find anyone.

That was inaccurate, he could find a lot of people in the crowded cafeteria. He just couldn't find any of the people he was looking for.

Spencer tried not to panic, which unfortunately he had been doing a lot recently.

Clutching the plastic tray of food the school had provided, he walked toward the back of the room, looking for an empty table and trying not to trip.

He couldn't find an empty table, but he did find Adam, sitting alone staring out the emergency exit door. Spencer went to join him. "Hi Adam, do you mind if I sit with you?"

X

Adam was pulled out of a very nice daydream because someone was talking to him

"Do you mind if I sit with you?"

he looked over, trying to find the owner of the voice.

It was Spencer, the kid from first block.

"Knock yourself out."

Spencer looked sort of awkwardly uncomfortable.

"That means yes."

Adam smiled, trying to be friendly.

"Oh, ok. Thank you."

The kid was really polite.

Adam was curious

"Exactly how old are you?"

Spencer paused for a minute before answering

"Twelve years, eight months, seventeen days, and approximately four hours old."

Adam tried not to laugh, although it was hard.

The kid looked younger than he should.

"Where are you from?"

Spencer pushed something in one of the compartments on his tray into another compartment.

"Las Vegas, Nevada."

Adam looked at the kids face, nope, he wasn't joking.

"Well that explains it."

Spencer looked confused. "What explains what?"

Adam gestured with his hands,

"You know, Vegas has all of the weird people. It makes sense that you would be a senior at the age of twelve if you came from Vegas."

Spencer still looked confused.

"That is inaccurate, Las Vegas doesn't have anymore 'weird' people per square mile than anywhere else, and how does the ratio of one type of people to another influence my intelligence in any way?"

Adam laughed, you could get to like this kid really easily.

Spencer smiled back although he seemed unsure of why he was.

Adam felt more than heard Nathan Toussaint behind him

"Aww, isn't that cute. Adam got a puppy."

Adam really hated school. Trying to ignore the voice behind him, taunting him, he looked at Spencer. Spencer's face was completely impassive. It was strange.

"You know, I always thought you were a freak, I didn't know you were into little kids as well. You should really be locked up, who knows how badly you have warped your poor puppy's mind."

Adam tried to block out the noise but it was harder than usual, mostly because Nathans knee was 'accidentally' pressed right on his spinal cord, rendering any movement futile.

Then there was another voice, Adam didn't recognize it. It sounded like a girl, and she sounded angry.

X

"Hey dickwad, shut up."

Elle was furious, after finally locating Spencer she had come over to hear this moron insulting him, and whatever kid he was sitting with.

The large blonde boy turned.

"Look, its mommy, she's here to rescue you from big old me."

Mommy?

Elle didn't even like kids.

She couldn't think of anything to say to him, rage did that to her sometimes.

So she hit him. Hard. In the face. With a lunch tray.

There was a moment of complete silence before the blood started pouring out of the kids head and he started screaming.

Oops.


	8. The meaning is missing

**I do not own criminal minds.  
><strong>  
><strong>Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. <strong>  
><strong><br>Constructive criticism is welcome.**

Robert young thought he was a good principal.

He was laid back, he was always fair with his punishments, the teachers liked him, and he felt that the students for the most part respected him.

As he looked at the teenagers in front of him he felt very close to having a meltdown.

"You are all suspended until further notice, and I will be calling your guardians."

Derek Morgan looked furious.

"Why? I didn't even do anything. It was Elle."

Elle was indignant

"It was self defense, that gorilla had three friends who came after me."

Robert felt his blood pressure rising and was surprised that he managed to sound so calm.

"His friends went to help him after you hit him in the head with a lunch tray. And if I recall correctly Mr. Morgan, you broke Jason Kimmel's arm."

There was complete silence for one blessed moment before Adam Jackson spoke up.

"They deserved it, douche bag Nathan said I was a freak who is into little kids, he insulted Spencer, and Kimmel would of punched Elle in the face if that other guy didn't stop him."

Robert could hear his voice rising but couldn't stop it.

"This school has zero tolerance, you guys are really lucky you aren't expelled.

Adam, you pushed peter smith into a vending machine, that is now broken and needs to be repaired.

Elle, you assaulted a classmate. That is unacceptable, no matter what the circumstances are, it is a crime, and you are really lucky that Nathan Toussaint decided not to press charges.

Derek, you broke Jason Kimmel's arm and punched the gym coach in the face when he tried to break up the fight.

Emily, you broke Oliver Kerrigan's nose and fractured two of his ribs.

I don't know exactly what you three did, but there are thirteen people who say that you were involved in some way."

JJ, Spencer, and Penelope were all staring fixedly at the floor.

Robert was yelling now, and his face was really red. Morgan held up a hand

"I didn't mean to punch coach in the face, he got in the way. It was an accident."

Robert stood up "I don't care if it was divine retribution, there is blood and glass all over my cafeteria, I have three students in the hospital, and my football coach is in the nurses office. You can apologize for an accident, the circus that is my cafeteria can not be fixed with an apology. The students in the ER can not be fixed with an apology."

Robert sat down. Spencer and Penelope were looking at him like he had just told first graders there was no Santa, Elle looked mildly impressed, JJ seemed very calm, Derek still looked angry, and Adam looked bored. Emily looked like she was going to start laughing.

"You have a little spit on the side of your mouth, might want to clean that up."

X

Rossi had been enjoying a nice day at home, no kids, no Gideon, it was nice and quiet.

The kids were at school, and Gideon was at the BAU teaching some trainees.

His wonderful, quiet day was interrupted when he got a phone call from the school informing him that Elle, Emily, JJ, Spencer, Morgan, and Penelope were all in very serious trouble.

He debated on whether or not to call Gideon right away, and decided that it could wait until he got back.

X

Spencer felt really anxious, his day had been going so well, and now he was suspended.

Principal Roberts had left to call Gideon and Rossi, and Emily was still laughing. JJ and Penelope seemed rather calm considering that they could all be expelled. Elle and Derek seemed to be having a staring contest and Adam looked bored.

Adam saw Spencer looking at him and decided to initiate conversation.

"You look like someone skinned your puppy. Chill out."

Spencer looked confused

"I don't have a puppy."

Adam grinned

"You and I are going to be best friends. I can tell."

Someone slapped him on the arm, hard, it was Elle.

"Spencer is my best friend. Find your own."

The door opened and an annoyed older guy walked in.

"I really hope that you didn't kill anyone. It would really suck to arrest any of you on my day off."

X

It wasn't until they were all home and Rossi had sent them into their rooms that Gideon called a group meeting.

"You are all grounded until you are no longer suspended. No friends over, no leaving the house, no television, no phone, no internet."

He said it with a completely relaxed look on his face, as if he was discussing the weather.

"I am very disappointed in all of you, and if I ever hear that you even though of doing anything like this ever again I will request that the school expel you."

Elle started to say something and Gideon cut her off "No excuses, no apologies. Go sit down for dinner. It will not be necessary to discuss this again."

X

After dinner Aaron came home.

Derek looked up from the card game he had been playing with Emily

"Hey stranger, where have you been?"

Aaron set down his jacket "At Haley's, we have a project due soon. I heard you got suspended."

Derek grinned

"Yup, all of us. Elle decided to brain some guy and I tried to save her."

X

Gideon was working on some paperwork in his office when Spencer walked in.

"Can I talk to you?"

Gideon smiled reassuringly and pointed to the seat in front of him. When Spencer made no move to sit down Gideon sighed.

"Spencer, earlier when I said I was disappointed in you, I didn't mean that I was disappointed in you as a person, I meant that I was disappointed in your actions."

Spencer smiled slightly and sat down in the chair.

"I know. It isn't that. Its my mom, I really miss her, and I haven't seen her since she was put in Bennington's. I used to see her every day, and I have been writing her letters but its not the same. I know that I am not allowed in Las Vegas until the trial is over, but I really, really miss her."

Gideon didn't know what to say.

Spencer looked like he was holding back tears

"Is it at all possible for you to arrange a visit so that I can see her?"

Gideon looked at Spencer, he seemed so much younger than he really was.

"I will see what I can do." Spencer got up "Thank you." He left.

X

Spencer stood outside Gideon's office door, even though it was over now he still felt nervous.

"Your mom is crazy?"

It was Elle, she was leaning on the wall outside Gideon's office

"Its not a bad thing, a lot of people are crazy. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

Spencer felt his throat go dry

"How did you know my mom is, well, like a lot of people?"

Elle smiled at him.

"Bennington's, one of my neighbors got sent there after his house burnt down."

Spencer started walking toward the kitchen, he was really thirsty for some reason.

"Did your mom kill your dad?" Elle asked.

Spencer felt the air around him get warmer

"No, my mom did not kill my dad."

Elle was silent as Spencer got a drink and sat at the table

"My mom killed my dad, that's why I'm here."

Spencer took a sip of his drink. Elle was looking at a spot on her arm

"She shot him in the chest, for no good reason. Just woke up one day and decided to kill him. that's why I asked. You haven't mentioned your dad, and so I thought he was dead."

looked over at him and grimaced "Sorry."

Spencer put his cup down.

"Its ok, my dad is dead, but my mom didn't kill him. He was involved in some pretty bad stuff, and his business partner killed him so that he wouldn't tell anyone. It was right after my mom got sent to Bennington's, I was there and now his partner wants me dead."

Elle looked at Spencer and smiled.

"Not to sound corny or anything, but I'm really glad you're here, and I'm sorry for getting you suspended."

Spencer returned her smile

"Me too, and it's ok."

"If I'm interrupting something, just tell me and I will leave" Elle looked at Emily who had just walked into the room and was grinning at them, and started laughing

"We were making baby geniuses, go away."


	9. Much like suffocating

**I do not own Criminal Minds.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

Derek woke up at 4:30 in the morning to Penelope sitting on his bed holding her computer.

"Baby girl, you know I love you, and you know that I will walk to the deepest pit of hell for you, but I want you off my bed now so I can sleep."

Penelope smiled at him, the glare of her computer made her look scary.

"I would sit on boy-wonders bed but he looks so cute with his little nightlight. I don't want to disturb him." Derek sat up so that he could fully understand what the hell was so important she couldn't do it in her own room at a reasonable hour.

"What exactly are you doing, and why are you doing it on my bed when we are both grounded?"

"I am hacking into the school and police records to figure out how much trouble we are in. I am doing it on your bed because I cant do it in my room without getting caught,"

She paused for a second "That sounds so naughty. And its not my fault we are both grounded."

Now Derek was awake.

"You do realize that what you are doing is illegal and if anyone catches you, you will be in a lot of trouble. That being said, what did you find?"

Penelope was about to respond when Spencer sat up, he had somehow managed to get half of the hair on his head to face to wrong direction.

"What did you find about what?"

Derek started laughing.

"Nice hair pretty boy, our resident Goddess is checking the school and police records to see how long we are going to be suspended."

Spencer looked slightly confused "Isn't that illegal?"

Penelope grinned at Spencer

"Where's the fun if its not?"

X

Adam was bored, it was only 8 am and he had already cleaned almost every room in his house.

School was horrible and it sucked, but sitting at home with his step-father was much worse.

Going to the library was out of the question, he owed several books, and librarians are vicious.

There weren't any friends he could call.

It was pouring rain outside, going for a walk would just be stupid.

And Spencer was grounded so it was unlikely that Adam would be able to talk to him.

Deciding that pneumonia was more fun than evil librarians, Adam left his house.

X

JJ and Emily were late for breakfast, JJ because she got dressed before breakfast, and Emily because she liked to sleep.

When they got into the kitchen Gideon was reading, Derek and Penelope were talking about something, and Elle was trying to get Spencer to eat something healthy.

It wasn't until they had started eating that Rossi came in.

"I got a call from your principal, some thing happened to the report that was filed about your fight, it fell through some technical black hole and he doesn't think that they are going to get it back. Do any of you know anything about this?"

Penelope Derek and Spencer tried not to look guilty

"No? Well, he decided on punishments for all of you. Elle you are suspended for 45 days, Derek and Emily you are both suspended for a month. The three of you have to attend an anger management seminar that the school is hosting."

Elle looked annoyed

"I am not an angry person. I do not need to sit in a room full of angry people telling me about their feelings, that will make me angry."

Gideon shot her a look and she quieted down, Rossi continued,

"The three of you,"

He looked toward Penelope Spencer and JJ

"Are suspended for two weeks. Even though you didn't start the fight, you were all directly involved in it. Any questions?"

Elle glared at him

"Do I look like someone who needs anger management?"

X

After breakfast Derek set up a game of monopoly.

Penelope was the first one out so she was sent to get popcorn.

"Penny, I love you, but you need to stop bailing out your competitors."

Penelope sat down beside Derek with a huff

"Be quiet Emily. My chocolate stud muffin needed help, and he is impossible to turn down. Look at him he is gorgeous."

JJ started laughing.

"Stud muffin? Really? And in what universe is Derek impossible to turn down?"

Spencer looked at Derek critically

"I don't know, he can be very persuasive when he wants to be."

Derek glared at JJ, and at Elle, who had started laughing

"See, the genius has spoken, he is always right. I can be very persuasive."

Emily raised an eyebrow,

"Yeah, give me one example of when you have persuaded someone to do something."

Derek started laughing

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

Gideon walked into the room as Emily threw a piece of popcorn at Derek.

"Spencer can I talk to you for a moment?"

Spencer got up as a popcorn battle started.

X

Gideon led Spencer into the empty kitchen.

"You should sit down."

As Spencer sat down, he felt something cold start to wrap around his intestines.

"Before I tell you anything, I want you to know that this issn't your fault."

Gideon looked sort of blurry around the edges.

"Charles Hankel escaped yesterday. He killed the two guards who were watching him, and he found out where your mother was."

Spencer felt like there were metal bands around his ribcage that were getting tighter and tighter, Gideon looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"Spencer, your mom is dead, The Las Vegas police notified me a few minutes ago. I am so sorry."

Spencer felt like someone had punched him in the gut.

The air seemed to get colder, and a strange buzzing filled his ears.

He could hear Gideon talking, he just couldn't understand what he was saying.

There is no way that his mom is dead. No way. It is impossible, Diana Reid cant die, not when Spencer still needs her. Not when she is the only family member he has. Gideon has to be lying, it is the only explanation.

Gideon tried not to add too many details. "I am so sorry Spencer."


	10. Just talk but promise nothing else

**I do not own Criminal Minds**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

"What happens now?"

It had taken Spencer five minutes to calm down enough to listen to Gideon, and it had taken him another ten to realize that he was telling the truth.

"I don't know. You can't go back to Las Vegas until they catch Charles, but when he is caught he will be tried for the murder of your mom, as well as for the murder of your father."

Gideon looked more upset then Spencer did.

"Spencer, this isn't your fault. There is nothing you could have done."

Spencer stood up and made to leave the room,

"Thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it."

XThe monopoly game had been forgotten in favor of an all out popcorn war.

Spencer tried to navigate his way through the flying kernels without drawing any attention to himself.

"Hey Spence, you're on our team. It's you, me, and Elle against Emily, Penelope, and Derek."

JJ was laughing and motioning to Spencer to join her behind the couch.

"No thanks. I think I'm going to lie down for a little while, I don't feel so well."

He tried to smile at her, but he must have failed because she looked a little concerned "Are you ok? What's wrong?"

Morgan and Penelope were looking a little worried about him also. Spencer could feel his chest tightening.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I just don't feel very well."

Emily looked toward the kitchen, where Gideon was still sitting at the table, with his head in his hands.

"Did something happen? Is it the school thing? Spencer, you know you can trust us." Spencer could feel himself getting angry, why didn't they just leave him alone.

"Nothing is wrong ok, just shut up and leave me alone."

Spencer walked past Penelope who looked like she was going to start crying into the room he shared with Derek and shut the door behind him.

He didn't feel angry anymore, he didn't feel sad, or upset. He felt numb, and that scared him more than anything else. He felt like his entire life was unraveling at the seams and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

X

Elle knocked on the door to Spencer's bedroom, they were all worried about him and she wanted to know what was wrong.

"Spencer I know you are in there."

There was no answer so she opened the door.

Spencer was sitting on the edge of his bed. he looked like he was thinking hard about something.

Elle closed the door and sat next to him.

"You can talk to me. You don't have to, but it will make you feel better if you do. I'm not asking what is wrong to annoy you, I'm asking because whatever it is bothering you, and I want to fix it. We all want to fix it. you are one of the best people I have ever met and I don't want you to have to deal with whatever it is alone."

Spencer was still looking at the wall

"Do you know that a common housecat will start to devour your body before it is cold." Elle felt like laughing, picturing a kitten trying to eat a corpse.

"That's nasty."

Spencer looked up at her and she realized just how young he was,

"I know you guys just want to help. I didn't mean what I said before, and I'm sorry for being a jerk."

Elle grinned at Spencer, trying to lighten the mood

"I'm a jerk all the time, there's nothing to apologize for. Well, not to me."

Spencer smiled back at her

"My mom is dead and I don't feel anything. That's bad right."

Elle tried to ignore the sickening feeling in her stomach.

"I thought your mom was at the sanitarium." His smile changed into something darker. "She was, now she's dead."

Spencer started laughing "Now I'm an orphan."

Elle didn't know what to say so she hugged him.

After a few minutes the laughter turned into crying.

The door opened silently and Elle could see JJ looking worriedly into the room with Emily and Penelope behind her, she motioned for them to go away.

X

Derek was worried when Spencer shut himself into their room, and from the way the girls were looking he wasn't the only one.

There was a silent argument between JJ and Elle before Elle went to talk to him.

Emily and Penelope started cleaning up the popcorn.

Rossi came into the living room carrying a bunch of papers he looked excited, and Derek was immediately wary.

"Where are Elle and Spencer?"

JJ pointed toward the room they were in.

"Gideon upset Spencer, so Elle went to talk to him. What are the papers for?"

Rossi seemed to get even more excited at the question.

"I am glad you asked. These are what you will be working on until you get off suspension. The school can not forbid you from getting an education, so I went and personally picked these up for all of you."

Emily looked annoyed

"So we aren't allowed to mingle with the general population, but they still want all of the same work done?"

Rossi smiled broadly

"Yup. Maybe next time you will think twice before sending three people to the hospital in a school with zero tolerance for violence."

JJ glared at him "It's sad you find this so amusing."

Gideon walked into the room toward the couch.

Rossi's smile slipped a little "You look like crap."

Gideon sat down on the couch.

Emily JJ and Penelope went to check on Elle and Spencer.

"I feel like crap."

Rossi put the papers on the table and sat beside Gideon

"What happened while I was gone?"

Emily, Penelope, and JJ walked back into the room looking worried.

Gideon seemed to consider the question before answering it.

"Spencer got some pretty bad news."

X

By the time Aaron walked into the house Elle and Spencer were sitting at the table. Spencer had apologized to everyone and they were halfway through a new monopoly game.

Aaron put his backpack down at the door and pulled out the last free chair.

"So how was everyone's day. You know being grounded and all."

Derek mock glared at Penelope who winked back before he answered.

"It started early and lasted a while."

Elle looked at Spencer but didn't say anything, he had asked her not to tell anyone about his mom.

Emily glared in the direction of the living room, where Gideon and Rossi were still sitting.

"Rossi went and got us a bunch of work to do while we are out of school. Apparently even degenerates like us need to do their homework on time."

Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"When have you ever referred to yourself as a degenerate? Do you even know what that word means?"

Emily threw the dice at Aaron while everyone else laughed.

"Careful Emily, or I will tell Rossi that you are being mean to me."

She gave him a death glare.

"Wow, since when do you have a sense of humor."

There was a knock on the door, JJ got up to answer it as Aaron threw the dice back at Emily and hit her on the forehead.

"Hey Spence, its your friend from school. The one that pushed that jerk into a vending machine."

Elle laughed at Aarons shocked expression, and even Spencer smiled

"His name is Adam."


	11. Really nothing left to say

**I do not own criminal minds.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

Adam really hadn't meant to go to Spencer's house.

Then he realized that Spencer was the closest thing to a friend that he had.

Without really meaning to he had decided that he liked the young genius, it's hard to hate someone who doesn't seem to know how to hate anyone.

Adam was sort of nervous about knocking on Spencer's door, mostly because he didn't know how much trouble the kid was already in.

The pretty blonde girl answered it, when she saw him she smiled, which was really weird. People didn't usually smile at Adam.

She turned back into the house to say something and then invited him inside.

There were all of the people Adam had met in Mr. Young's office, plus some dark haired person Adam vaguely remembered seeing around school.

Spencer looked like crap.

"Hi Adam."

He looked even worse when he tried to smile

"I remember you, you pushed Dickwad Jr. into a vending machine."

I remember you, you brained a guy with a piece of plastic.

"Hey shortstop. Yeah. That was me."

Elle smiled and pointed to the dark haired person.

"This is Aaron, he isn't really any fun, but we put up with him anyway."

Some old guy with a beard came into the room and got some cups "Aren't you guys grounded? I'm pretty sure that means no friends in the house."

Emily glared at the old guy. "Aaron isn't grounded, how do you know he isn't one of Aarons friends."

Old guy raised an eyebrow and turned to Adam "Are you one of Aarons friends?"

Not a snowballs chance in hell of that ever happening.

"No."

Old guy started to go back to wherever he came from "What do you know? He isn't Aarons friend." Someone threw dice at him.

Adam continued to stand awkwardly in the middle of the floor.

X

It didn't hurt if he didn't think about it.

Spencer missed not feeling anything.

He knew that it was part of the grieving process but he really wanted to be able to think of his mother without feeling like his ribcage was shrinking.

Listening to the friendly banter that seemed to make up daily life where he was helped Spencer not think about Diana Reid.

He didn't expect Adam to show up.

He really didn't expect Gideon to okay Spencer and Adam hanging out on the premise of non-existent schoolwork in a class that they were both suspended from.

Spencer suspected Gideon still felt guilty about telling him about his mom.

He wasn't quite sure what Adam wanted but Spencer figured it would be best to ask somewhere quiet.

So after okaying it with Gideon Spencer and Adam made their way into his room, a term Spencer used loosely because he wasn't sure how much longer he would be where he was.

"Is this some sort of cult thing?"

Adam must have noticed the confusion on Spencer's face because he elaborated

"There is no way all of you are related."

Spencer felt like he was missing something important.

"Why would the fact that we aren't related make you believe we are members of a cult."

Adam sat on Derek's bed

"I was trying to lighten the mood, I don't actually think you are in a cult."

Spencer sat on his own bed

"Oh."

Adam looked like he had been caught in a rainstorm, his shirt was wet and he was shivering slightly.

"I came over to let you know that we are friends. Since we are friends it's okay for me to tell you that you look like crap."

Spencer didn't know what to say. So he settled for a sort of truth.

"My dad died."

Adam looked really confused

"Who are the old guys sitting in your living room."

"My guardians."

Adam still looked confused "Where is your mom?"

The anger was irrational but strong

"Why are we playing twenty questions? Is it time to dig around in your life yet."

Surprised at the venomous tone Adam raised his hands in mock surrender

"Sorry. I didn't know that Mom was off limits."

The anger was still growing.

"Is she dead or something?"

Adam seemed more curious than confused now.

The anger was making it hard to think straight.

"Get out."

Not curious anymore, just shocked, and irritated.

"It isn't necessary to be a jerk."

"Get out"

Spencer was surprised his voice was calm, he wanted to hit Adam.

X

Derek was concerned about Spencer.

Whatever Gideon told him wasn't good news, and the kid didn't seem to want to talk about it.

Even Elle seemed on edge about it, and she didn't usually care.

He could tell all of the girls were worried.

Even though they had only known Spencer for a short time, he had grown on them, none of them wanted to see him hurting.

Derek didn't want to see his baby girl worrying over anything.

The room had gotten quieter after Spencer and Adam had left.

Aaron and Emily were having a conversation about something with their eyes, JJ and Penelope were both speculating about Adam, and Elle was staring in the direction that both of them had gone in.

All non-verbal action ceased when Adam came back in the room looking irritated over something.

Spencer was behind him, he just looked guilty.

X

David Rossi wasn't good at comforting people, usually he wasn't required to try.

Most of the people in his life either went to Gideon for comfort or were from work.

He wasn't sure what to do when it was Gideon who needed to be comforted.

He debated on whether or not to get him drunk, but decided against it.

Mostly because then Gideon would probably talk about whatever was making him feel like crap, and if Gideon couldn't handle it, Rossi didn't want to try.

They sat in silence for about two hours, long enough for Rossi to feel sufficiently useless, before he had to leave the room.

He went into the kitchen to get drinks, and when he got back Gideon started talking.

"I had to tell Spencer his mom was murdered."

not sure if anything would be appropriate to say Rossi just made a sympathetic noise.

Spencer and the quiet kid Rossi had seen in the kitchen came to ask for permission to talk about some science class in his room, and Gideon agreed despite the fact that Spencer was grounded.

There was another bout of silence and then Gideon started talking again

"Hankel might know where to find Spencer."

Rossi was not expecting that

"Diana's body showed evidence of her being tortured prior to her death, and she knew where Spencer was going. That is the only possible reason why he would kill her."

Gideon looked older than Rossi had ever seen him.

"He doesn't kill anyone who isn't in his way."

"Why would they tell her where Spencer was going?" That just seemed stupid to Rossi.

The quiet kid walked out into the kitchen looking pissed, Spencer right behind him.

"I don't know."

Rossi looked toward the kitchen, he could see Emily and Penelope, both looked anxious.

"This cant possibly end well."


	12. The world is on my head

**I do not own Criminal Minds. **

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

Getting angry was counterproductive.

Spencer's goal was to prove to Gideon and Rossi that he was fine so that they would stop giving him those pitying looks when they thought he wasn't looking.

He didn't usually have to try so hard to keep his emotions under control, but Gideon refused to let Spencer go anywhere without a companion and for some reason that irritated him.

There seemed to be some sort of unspoken rule about letting spencer go off by himself that everyone but him was aware of.

If Spencer wanted to get a new book JJ or Garcia had to return something to the library at the same time.

If he wanted to go for a walk to clear his head there would be someone waiting outside to talk about the weather.

If Spencer felt like doing anything that took him more than a street or two away Aaron would offer him a ride.

It was impossible to get time to just think.

Everyone seemed to want to let him know that they were there for him and share secrets with him.

Elle talked more about her parents, and let Spencer know that she would help him hide a body if he killed anyone.

JJ let him know that he wasn't alone, and then told him about how her older sister killed herself and her parents still blamed JJ.

Derek told him a little bit about his mom and sisters in Chicago, and let him know that he would always have time to listen to Spencer's problems.

Penelope told him about her parents car crash, and swore on her hard drives that anything he told her would be in confidence.

Emily let him in on some of the travels her parents had taken her on before they had decided that having a daughter with them was a waste of time

Aaron told him about Hailey, and how he was pretty sure that he was going to marry her.

Only Elle, Gideon, and Rossi knew about Spencer's mom, but everyone else seemed to have noticed that something happened.

They all intended well.

The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

X

Spencer had never been happier to return to school. Even though he would still be with JJ and Penelope on the way there and back, he would be by himself for most of the day.

X

Elle, Derek, and Emily had gone to the anger management seminar, with very different reactions to it.

Emily found the entire thing an insult of sorts but said that they did bring up some valid points.

Derek thought it was all a big joke and had spent the entire seminar trying to get Elle angry.

Elle had hated it and yelled at the instructor when he said that she needed to calm down.

As a result Elle had to go to another seminar before she was allowed back on the school premises.

X

School was completely uneventful.

Adam was still suspended and Penelope or JJ walked Spencer to and from every class and Penelope escorted him to lunch.

Several students seemed to be avoiding Spencer and he asked Garcia about it.

"They are scared of you honey bun."

She paused for a minute to wave down JJ who hurried over looking irritated.

"Well not you exactly, more Derek and Elle and Emily. They got pretty mad last time someone insulted you."

JJ made it to their table in record time.

"I have to stay after today, Mrs. Hill doesn't want to accept the work that I did during suspension she thinks that I cheated or something, and she took my phone."

Penelope looked excited.

"Does this mean I get to call my chocolate knight for a rescue ride home?"

JJ glared at Penelope

"This means that I don't get my phone back for the rest of the week."

"Why did she take your phone away?"

It was Spencer who had asked.

JJ waved a hand dismissively

"She may have intercepted a text message from Will."

Garcia wiggled her eyebrows

"Will is that really cute one right?"

The rest of lunch was spent discussing William LaMontagne Jr.

X

Elle was bored.

Emily was helping Rossi on some project thing, Gideon had taken Aaron fishing or something, and Derek had gone to pick up Spencer and Penelope.

JJ had detention for some reason or other.

She had finished the work she needed to get done already and now she had nothing to do.

So she redecorated Derek and Spencer's bedroom.

X

Emily wandered in as she was putting the finishing touches on the desk. "You do realize that Derek is going to kill you for this right."

Elle tried not to laugh, picturing Derek's face when he saw the changes "Yup"

Emily watched as Elle started decorating the walls with various posters, most of which included the Jonas brothers and Hannah Montana.

"Do you mind if I help with the posters?"

Elle handed Emily a bottle of glitter glue and some tape.

"Just make sure that you put the twilight one over Derek's bed. I don't think Spencer will get the reference."


	13. My words just break and melt

**I do not own criminal minds**

**thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

x

Adam couldn't decide whether or not to speak to Spencer.

They were in first block, working on some project together, and they weren't speaking to each other.

The kid had been pretty rude, but Adam sort of missed him.

They hadn't spoken since the day Adam had returned to school, and that was just because he accidentally knocked Spencer over on his way to second block.

It had been over two weeks since that happened.

Adam figured he could give Spencer another chance, be the bigger person.

"I have decided to forgive you for being rude and snappy toward me. Do you want to be friends again."

Spencer seemed rather surprised that Adam was talking to him, it took him almost a minute to respond.

"I would really like to be friends again, and I am really sorry that I was so rude."

He was the bigger person. The bigger person wanted answers.

"Yeah, what the hell was that all about?"

Adam was pretty sure Spencer would have answered, you know, if there hadn't been gunshots.

X

"Spencer is going to be transferred to his new home later today."

At first David thought Jason was kidding.

Then he remembered who he was talking to and got angry.

"What new home? Please tell me you're joking."

Jason just looked upset.

"Strauss has decided that it is safer for him to be moved until they find Hankel again. She called earlier, she's going to send someone to pick him up after he gets out of school today."

Fan-Freaking-Tastic.

X

Elle was pretty glad to be back in school.

Home was boring.

Spencer was always learning or something, Derek was still peeved about the whole room makeover thing that had happened forever ago, and Emily was too responsible to do anything fun.

JJ and Penelope both had boyfriends that took up loads of time.

Aaron was just cranky, constantly.

Home was boring, school not so much.

Until halfway through first block on her first day back.

Then it was pretty boring.

So she went to the bathroom for twenty minutes.

She left when she heard the gunshots.

X

"Baby girl, what are you doing?"

Trust her gorgeous eye candy to be the nosey one.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

It was first block, probably the worst world history class in the world. No one paid any attention to the teacher, ever.

It was the one class where you could do almost anything you wanted.

Penelope was attempting to find out what was happening to her little genius.

Again.

"Is whatever you're doing right now illegal? Does Kevin know you like to break the law? Why aren't you answering me? Are you hacking Spencer's caseworker? Oh my god you are."

She loved Derek, but if he didn't shut up she was going to hurt him.

She opened her mouth to tell him so, but stopped when she heard gunshots.

X

Natalie Sylvain liked her job.

She was good at it, and it was rather simple most of the time.

She worked in the main office of the high school, her job mostly involved announcements and visitors.

Something about this visitor set off warning bells in Natalie's head.

There was something off about him.

"I'm here to pick up Spencer Reid, I'm his father."

According to the computer Spencer Reid's father was deceased.

"Do you have identification?"

The visitor was grinning, extremely calm.

Something was very wrong with him.

"Just call Spencer to the office, and I won't kill you."

The revolver was unexpected.

Natalie could almost feel the panic attack coming on.

"Leave right now, or I will call the police."

A bullet pierced her brain, and Natalie felt no more.

X


	14. The rotten core inside

**I do not own Criminal Minds**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

x

Erin Strauss was not a well liked person.

She was okay with that. It was a side effect of her job, and she loved her job.

"Jason, I told you that the placement was only temporary."

Even if it really sucked sometimes.

"Yes, I know that he has no living family. That is one of the reasons why I think it will be for the best if he is placed somewhere else, at least until Charles Hankel is apprehended."

She knew Jason would get attached to the child.

"Need I remind you that you are also in charge of six other minors, it wouldn't be fair to focus all of your attention into watching Spencer Reid."

Erin felt sort of bad about what she was doing, but it was for the best.

"I'm sorry, but this is not a discussion. I will send someone to pick him up at four, have him ready."

Spencer Reid was in danger where he was, the only option was to move him until the threat was gone.

"I really am sorry."

X

The room was almost silent after the shots were heard.

Adam expected a lot of screaming, or at least some crying.

Instead the teacher was motioning for them to shut up and stay put.

Then the door opened and Elle came in, it was a sign of how upset the teacher was that he didn't say anything.

She immediately came over to where Spencer and Adam were sitting.

"Oh good, I thought for a minute that I got the room number wrong."

Spencer's expression was an odd mix between fear, surprise, and relief.

"Elle, what are you doing here? Did you hear that? It sounded like a gun."

The teacher was trying to buzz the office with little luck, so Elle lowered her voice a little.

"Yes I heard it, I'm pretty sure everyone in school heard it. I was in the hall and some teacher told me to go to a classroom immediately, this one was closer than mine."

Spencer was whispering, Adam had to lean closer to hear what he was saying.

"What were you doing in the hall, isn't your class upstairs?"

The intercom buzzed on and the teacher looked relieved.

"This is Mr. Patten, um, there was a noise a few minutes ago that sounded kind of like a gun going off. I was wondering if we need to be concerned."

The person responding didn't sound like the normal lady.

"Everything is fine."

Mr. Patten looked unconvinced

"Do you know what it was? Should I call the police?"

"the situation is under control, there is no need to involve the police."

Adam looked over at Elle.

He was pretty sure she had a phone.

She should call the police, just in case.

She was looking at Spencer, who looked terrified.

"Alright, thank you."

The intercom turned off.

Mr. Patten turned to the class.

"Anyone who has a cell phone, take it out and call the police. I am going to leave, when I do I want you to lock the door behind me. Do not open it for any reason. Close the shades and stay away from the windows and doors. Stay quiet, and do not panic."

Adam was pretty sure people were going to panic.

Mr. Patten left.

X

When the shots fired Derek tackled her.

"What was that? I swear, if you broke my laptop I will kill you."

Derek seemed a little irritated for some reason.

"Woman, I was saving you."

"From what? The light?"

He gave her an exasperated look.

"Did you not hear the gun being fired."

Oh, right. The noise.

"How do you know that was a gun, and not a car or something."

Okay, that was a stupid question.

He gave her another look, and helped her up.

The room was pretty quiet, almost everyone was talking.

But they were talking in hushed worried tones.

Mr. Way tried to buzz the office for a few seconds, then frowned and walked over to the door.

"I'm going to go to the office, I will be right back. Do not leave this room."

X

It wasn't his fault.

If she had just given him Spencer like he asked, she would still be alive.

Satisfied with his internal reasoning Charles kicked Natalie to the side.

She was of no further use to him.

But now he would have to find out where Spencer was by himself.

There were two other people in the office, neither one of them wanted to tell him where Spencer was.

So he snapped their necks.

He had asked nicely, it wasn't his fault these people had such poor manners.

Some button was flashing on the desk next to him. So he pushed it.

"This is Mr. Patten, um, there was a noise a few minutes ago that sounded kind of like a gun going off. I was wondering if we need to be concerned."

The man sounded scared.

"Everything is fine."

Once he found out where Spencer was everything would be fine.

"Do you know what it was? Should I call the police?"

Charles was getting angry, he had said everything was fine. This man had no right to question him.

"The situation is under control, there is no need to involve the police."

It was hard, pretending that he didn't want to tear the man apart for questioning him.

"Alright, thank you."

But he did it.

He was going to have to look for Spencer himself.

As Charles was leaving the hallway he saw someone walking toward him.

"Do you know where I can find Spencer Reid? It's important. I'm his father."

The man looked terrified, and he tried to run.

Charles had forgotten about the blood all over his shirt, and the blood on the window behind him.

Oh well.

He shot the man in the back and he fell.

As the man was falling Charles could see two girls headed for a bathroom.

It was unlikely that they knew where to find Spencer, he would have to ask a teacher.

X

JJ was headed toward the main office with Emily when the first shots were fired.

They were almost there when they saw someone shoot Mr. Way.

So they hid in the bathroom

JJ seemed pretty close to having a panic attack

"Oh crap. Do you think he saw us? What if he saw us. We are going to die. What if he gets Penelope or Aaron or someone. We have to warn them. What if he shoots you. Or me. We are going to die."

Emily was pretty sure she was going to laugh at the expression on JJ's face, or throw up.

"JJ, we are going to be fine. He didn't see us, he isn't going to hurt Penelope or Aaron or anyone else. We are going to call the police. Where is your phone?"

JJ appeared to be ready to cry

"Mrs. Hill took it again yesterday."

Emily was going to have to be the calm one.

"Do you know what she did with it?"

"It's in the office."

They were going to die.

x


	15. It starts with pain

**I do not own Criminal Minds**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

_A/N: This is part 1 of 2, the other part should be up tomorrow. Sorry for the wait._

**X**

Elle wasn't sure whether or not she should be afraid.

She didn't feel very frightened but most of the people around her seemed to be panicking, at least a little.

Spencer looked pretty scared.

Probably because of the atmosphere he was in.

No one seemed inclined to lock the door like Mr. Patten instructed, he had closed it behind him and no one had moved.

They just started talking louder.

Elle turned to Spencer, he was breathing faster than he should be.

She really needed to get him away from the panicking people.

"We should go find Emily or someone. They'll know what to do, and it seems better than just sitting here."

Elle smiled reassuringly, but Spencer's frightened expression didn't change.

She turned to Spencer's friend

"What do you think?"

Nothing. No response at all.

Elle stood up and tried to decide if it was better to leave Spencer with all of the idiots or bring him with her into a possibly dangerous situation.

Then some girl started crying and Elle's mind was made up.

Spencer didn't seem to want to do much, so Elle pulled him up into a standing position and out the still unlocked door.

It was up to Adam whether or not he followed, he wasn't her responsibility.

X

They left the room.

Penelope wasn't convinced that it was the smartest thing in the world to do, but Derek wasn't going to calm down until he knew that everyone else was okay.

It would have been so much easier if either of them had brought their phones.

The hallway outside their classroom was deserted, all of the doors Penelope could see were closed.

She was pretty sure what they were doing could get them in a lot of trouble.

"Where are we going?"

Even though Derek was the only one in earshot Penelope whispered her question.

"Upstairs, I know where Aaron is, and I'm pretty sure he knows where everyone else should be."

Derek wasn't whispering.

They were right next to Aarons class when Derek heard footsteps, he pulled her into the closest room and closed the door almost all of the way.

When they were in, Derek pulled her behind him and motioned for her to stay quiet.

Penelope was too scared to protest, she felt like she was going to pee herself.

The footsteps got louder and stopped outside the room they were in.

Penelope could feel Derek holding his breath, so she did the same.

Whoever was on the other side of the door moved on.

And went into Aarons classroom.

There was a mumbled conversation, the sound of someone moving around, more talking, and then gunshots, and screaming.

A lot of screaming, and running.

Penelope felt Derek tense up more and more at each shot as she tried not to cry or make any noise that would attract attention.

Although it was doubtful the shooter would be able to hear her if she did.

She could hear the people still in the room crying and whimpering in pain, but by then whoever could leave had, and the person with the gun was still inside shooting.

Derek moved to do something, but stopped when the shots stopped and the same footsteps as before left the class and went back down the hall.

X

He really didn't mean to hurt the children.

They got in his way.

It wasn't his fault.

He had tried to ask someone downstairs where Spencer was, but no one seemed to know.

Which was strange because Spencer was probably the only twelve year old at the school, they should keep tabs on their students.

To be fair he had only asked the first few teachers he had seen, the ones too nosey to do what they should and protect their students.

When none of them helped him he had killed them. They should have answered honestly.

Or stayed where they were needed.

Then he went upstairs, it was only fair that he ask someone in a different part of the building where Spencer was.

Maybe Spencer spent more of his time upstairs.

Most of the doors upstairs seemed to be closed, Charles didn't want to disrupt a class.

It is important for children to be taught what is right.

The first open door Charles encountered was a classroom, but the teacher wasn't teaching.

So Charles asked her if she knew where Spencer was.

She refused to answer, instead she told him to calm down, that he didn't want to do what he was doing, and that she could help him.

He was calm, he did want to do what he was doing, and she didn't seem to be answering his question.

So he asked again, very politely.

She refused to help him like she said she would, and so he had no choice but to kill her.

She shouldn't have lied to him.

The students all started screaming and running, so he shot them. Not all of them, just enough of them to keep order.

Students shouldn't leave class before they are given permission.

The ones that got left behind were crying, or dead.

He didn't mean to kill the children.

It was their fault, if they had stayed calm they would have been fine.

X

Aaron was sitting in class when something that sounded a like a firecracker went off.

It wasn't very loud, but it was enough for his teacher to stop what she was doing to look out into the hallway.

Then his phone rang, since his teacher wasn't even in the room he answered.

"Hello?"

It was Gideon, and he sounded worried.

"Gideon? What do you need, I'm kind of in class right now."

Sort of.

It was hard to hear what he was saying because there were people in the background talking over him.

There was another firecracker sound, but it was a little louder.

The people around Aaron seemed to be getting nervous, the teacher came back into the room, but ignored the fact that Aaron was on his cell.

She looked anxious.

Gideon got louder, but so did the noise around him.

Aaron couldn't decipher any of the information Gideon seemed desperate to relay to him.

Then some guy walked into Aarons classroom with a gun.

He was older and looked like someone's father, or grandfather.

He was asking about Spencer, and he was covered in blood.

For some reason whatever Gideon had to say wasn't important.

Aarons teacher held up her hands in surrender and tried to talk him down.

It didn't work, the guy shot her in the head.

The phone dropped as Aarons hands and legs went numb.

People around him were screaming, and running past the guy out the door.

The guy was shooting, and they were falling.

Aaron couldn't move, it seemed surreal.

The guy got closer, shooting at people who were on the ground, who had tried to run.

There was blood all over the floor, and on the walls, it was leaving bodies at an alarming rate.

Then Aaron was looking up into the barrel of a gun, he was pretty sure that he should plead for his life or something but it was impossible to talk.

"Do you know where I can find Spencer Reid?"

This was not good.

Aaron couldn't talk, he was trying to think of a way out of the situation he was in.

He couldn't find one.

The force of the bullet entering his body at such close range knocked Aaron backwards out of his chair.

X


	16. Followed by hate

**I do not own Criminal Minds**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts. **

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

A/N: This is part two.

x

JJ was still freaking out, and not in the fun way.

In the whole oh-my-god-we-are-going-to-die-because-some-crazy-person-with-a-gun-is-going-to-shoot-us-in-the-head way.

It was actually sort of annoying.

Emily was trying to think objectively, rationally, trying to think of some way to get them out of the position they were in.

She wasn't having much success.

JJ panicking and crying wasn't helping her to concentrate, though it did help Emily stay calm to a certain degree.

Two crying teenage girls would not get out of the situation they were in, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Emily knew that they were going to have to get JJ's phone, she just wasn't sure exactly how they were going to do it yet.

It would probably be best to just run toward the office when she was sure that the shooter was somewhere else in the building .

Emily wasn't sure exactly how well JJ was going to react to that plan.

Emily knew better than to suggest that they split up or leave the building before they were sure that everyone else in their makeshift family was okay.

JJ got angry, but at least she stopped panicking.

X

Jason was packing up Spencer's belongings when his cell phone rang.

He could hear David's ringing too, so he assumed it was work related.

"Gideon speaking."

The voice on the other end was breathless.

"There is a situation at the high school. You need to come now."

The feeling of dread nestling comfortably in his gut wasn't unknown, but it was enough to make his hands shake.

"What kind of situation."

"We don't know exactly, but shots were fired inside the building, and one of the higher-ups said to call you and tell you that you need to get down here fast."

Jason could see David standing by the door waiting for him, face pale.

"We are on our way."

X

Adam followed.

Elle was sure he would.

It was creepy, walking down the deserted hallways, listening to crying and rushed talking that was muffled by closed doors.

Elle knew that Aaron's first block was upstairs, and she was sure that it would be the first place that Derek would go.

It was almost frightening how well they all knew each other.

She headed toward Aaron's class, careful to make sure that she could see Spencer at all times.

He was her responsibility, and she was not going to let him get hurt.

She also made sure that Adam was still with them at regular intervals.

It wouldn't be nice to let Spencer's friend die, and she kind of liked him.

Elle could hear shots being fired as they climbed the stairs, by the time they got halfway down the hallway she could see the first of the students leaving a classroom.

They were running as fast as they could toward the exits, the ones that fell were pulled along.

There were more shots fired from inside the room, but no one was leaving.

Then someone did leave, he was tall, with long black hair.

He obviously wasn't a student, and he didn't look like any parent she had ever seen before.

Elle heard Spencer make a funny noise, and she knew.

She knew exactly who he was and why he was in their school.

In fact she had probably known once his voice came over the intercom, she knew now that Spencer had.

She also knew the room that he was walking out of, because Aaron had made sure that Elle knew where he was going to be during the day, and that was the room he was usually in during first block.

Aaron hadn't left with the students they had seen, she knew that because she would have recognized him.

It was funny, all of the things you could know in an instant.

She tried to pull Spencer and Adam into the empty art room behind her, but she knew it was useless. The guy had seen her as soon as she had seen him.

He had also seen Spencer.

X

The dread had begun to progress to fear by the time that they arrived at the high school.

Jason could see Strauss, and he assumed that she was the reason why they had been notified at all.

David had apparently reached the same conclusion.

"What's going on?" it was just like David to cut to the heart of the matter.

"911 received multiple calls about fifteen minutes ago. Students and faculty heard shots being fired, called the police, and were told to stay in their classrooms while they figured out what was going on.

No one inside has any information on the shooter, or whether or not there is one, and when the police tried to contact the main office there was no response."

Strauss seemed pretty frazzled, under any other circumstances David would have enjoyed it.

"Why don't the police start evacuating classrooms?"

Jason walked a little away from them and pulled out his phone.

Strauss had to raise her voice to be heard over the clatter of a news van pulling up aside the police cars.

"We don't know what is going on inside the building, the shooter, what he or she looks like, if there is a shooter. We don't know anything, and until we do, we cant do anything."

Aaron picked up after two rings.

"Hello?"

Gideon had never been so happy that someone answered their phone

"Aaron, are you okay? Do you know what is going on?"

There was an upswing in the conversation behind Gideon, as a police officer tried to inform the irate news reporter that she had to leave. Now.

"Gideon? What do you need, I'm kind of in class right now."

Aarons voice was hushed, but he sounded unharmed.

A little shaken, but relatively unscathed.

Jason tried to speak over the chaos around him, but it was almost impossible. The louder he got, the louder they got.

David was watching him, Strauss too. Though she pretended she wasn't.

Jason could hear a muffled and far away conversation. Then a very loud gunshot, and a clatter as Aaron's phone fell to the floor.

He wasn't aware that he was yelling for Aaron until David came over and tried to take the phone away.

They had a brief struggle for the phone that ended when Jason heard more shots being fired.

There was no time to fight over the phone, whatever was happening on the other end was bad.

And Aaron was in the middle of it.

Jason tried to go inside the building, but the police stopped him.

He didn't stop trying, even when his heart started pounding too loud, and his vision went blurry.

He continued to try until the vise his heart was in squeezed too tight, and he fell into the darkness.

X

Derek waited until the footsteps faded away before he pulled Penelope out of the room that they were in. he could see the shooter moving toward the art room, but he couldn't really find it in him to care all too much.

Aaron could be hurt, bleeding, or… something much worse.

Penelope was crying, hands clasped over her mouth as she tried to stay quiet.

The inside of the room looked like something out of a slasher film.

Too violent to ever belong in a school.

Derek knew some of the people laying on the ground in pools of their own blood. Not very well, but he knew them.

Most of them were dead now.

Derek felt suddenly queasy, like there wasn't very much oxygen in the room he was standing in.

Penelope rushed over to one of the prone figures on the ground and he knew it was Aaron, she started crying out loud.

Large gasping sobs that seemed to draw from her center and emanate outward.

His shirt had a lot of blood on the front, and his eyes were closed.

Penelope was pressing down on his torso, above his heart.

Most of the blood seemed to originate from there.

Derek wasn't sure what to do, there was no way that someone could loose that much blood and still be alive.

that's what he thought until Aaron opened his eyes, then he was too busy to think.

Too busy applying pressure like they were taught in health class, and trying to keep Aaron from screaming, to think of just how horrible it would be for Aaron to die when Derek could have stopped it if he had tried.

To busy to think of just how possible it was that that Elle, Emily, Spencer, and JJ were already dead.

Derek was much to busy to think, not that it had ever stopped him before.

x


	17. And now we're all alone

**I do not own Criminal Minds.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts.**

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Thank you to Glimfire for being my Beta.**

X

JJ didn't get angry very often, mostly because she didn't see the point.

But Emily proposing that they run toward where the shooter was got her angry.

"You want to go outside of this room to where the crazy person with a gun is shooting people. All for a cell phone that is probably dead by now. Are you insane? What makes you possibly think that is a good idea?"

Emily just rolled her eyes, apparently JJ's anger was not very impressive.

"The crazy person with a gun has moved on by now, we need to call the police and let them know what he looks like. We also need to find everyone else, I'm pretty sure that we are going to have to leave this room to do that."

JJ didn't really have anything to say to that, she wasn't really angry anymore.

She was scared.

"I could go get the phone by myself, you could wait here."

Emily winced at the glare JJ gave her.

X

Detective Michael Scott was not having a great day.

That was pretty normal in his line of work, but for some reason today was less great than most.

There was a shooter in the high school where his nephew went to school, the feds came and took control of the scene with no warning, they couldn't enter the building until they had a rough idea of who they were looking for, and to top it all off some FBI guy had a heart attack.

It was not a great day, and there was no information on the shooter.

No one knew what the shooter looked like, just that there might be one.

"We have a girl on the phone who says that she saw the shooter. Her and her friend."

X

Apparently she had picked the one classroom in the entire school that didn't have an adjoining door to the room next to it.

Great.

She could hear him getting closer and she wasn't stupid enough to believe that the door would be a viable barrier for long.

So she had Spencer hide in a supply cabinet, he did it without any protest.

She wasn't sure if he wasn't talking because he was scared, or because he had nothing to say, either way it was weird and Elle didn't like it.

Adam just seemed rather confused about the entire situation.

He was standing by the door, in the same spot that Elle had left him in when she let go of his arm.

He was opening his mouth, probably to ask some stupid question when the guy started trying to kick the door in.

How high he jumped would have made Elle laugh and tease him in any other situation.

Instead she pulled him with her to hide under the teachers desk.

The door opened violently, splinters of wood flying in all directions.

X

Despite the pressure that Penelope and Derek were applying, Aaron's blood was still leaving his body at an alarming rate.

Penelope was scared, really scared.

She was pretty sure that Aaron was going to die, and that scared her more than anything had in years.

Aaron shouldn't get shot, or die, he was the strong one.

He was the closest thing to a responsible older brother that she had ever had and he was bleeding to death under her hands.

Derek was talking to Aaron, his voice low and worried.

If Penelope was scared then he was terrified.

Somewhere down the hall something broke, and Derek looked even more desperate.

If the shooter came back then they would all die.

Penelope was trying as hard as she could to stay quiet, but as hard as she tried she couldn't control her breathing, it was loud and desperate, like a frightened animal.

Which technically she was.

There were more shots and Penelope started crying again, obviously the whole quiet thing wasn't working very well.

Someone started screaming and Derek looked even more terrified than before.

Which made Penelope feel even more scared.

"That's Elle."

It didn't sound like Elle to Penelope, but Derek was better at distinguishing voices than she was.

He stood up and took his hands off of Aaron's torso.

The blood started flowing faster over her hands, and Penelope applied as much pressure as she could.

Then Derek was kneeling in front of her

"I need you to stay here okay? I'm going to go and get Elle. I will be right back, do not take your hands off of Aaron, and do not follow me. Can you do that?"

Mutely she nodded, she didn't trust herself to talk.

Derek left and Penelope was alone with Aaron, she could feel his pulse slowing down.

X

Adam wasn't quite sure why Elle was freaking out, sure there was a crazy person with a gun shooting up their school, but she hadn't seemed all that concerned about him before.

Now she was making Spencer hide in the supply cabinet and Adam couldn't tell if she was actually insane, or if she just had weird reactions to stress.

Either way it was unsettling.

Something behind him got really loud really quick and Adam felt his heart trying to exit his body through his throat.

Lovely feeling.

Elle grabbed his arm again and yanked him down behind the teachers desk.

He was almost positive that he was going to have finger shaped bruises on his forearm come morning.

If he was alive in the morning.

The door slammed open and someone walked inside the room.

Adam could only see their feet, but he was pretty sure it was the shooter guy.

"Spencer, don't pretend that you aren't here. I know that you are, I saw you."

The guy seemed to be talking to the supply cabinet, which was vaguely disturbing.

Elle shifted like she was going to stand up or say something so Adam put his hand over her mouth.

If she stood up it would make noise, if she made noise, they were both dead.

"If you come out now, I wont shoot your companions."

Now the voice was directed towards where they were, which was really disturbing.

Something creaked, and for one mad moment Adam hoped it was the police coming down the hallway or something.

It was the supply cabinet opening.

Elle started trying to talk.

Adam wouldn't let her, given the choice he preferred to live.

"There you are. I have been looking for you for a quite a while. You have no idea how much trouble you have caused for me."

Spencer didn't say anything, which surprised Adam.

He would have been begging for his life.

"This entire thing is your fault. If you had just stayed quiet, none of this would have happened. You made me kill all of those people."

Elle was elbowing him.

"I am just trying to fix things. I don't like hurting children, but you have to die. It is the only way to fix everything you messed up."

Adam could hear the bullets being loaded into the gun, the click as the chamber fell into place.

Elle bit his hand, hard enough to draw blood and he let go of her.

She shoved him out of the way and scrambled to her feet as the gun discharged.

X

The first thing Spencer noticed was that he was in a very large room.

It was bright, and he could see someone already there, sitting down in a chair.

She was reading, he recognized the book as one his mother used to read to him.

The second thing he noticed was that there wasn't any blood that he could see on his person.

He knew he had been shot, that it hurt, that there was a lot of blood.

Someone had been yelling for him, but the rest was hazy, a bad dream.

"Am I dead?"

It was strange that he didn't feel worried about what the answer would be, or if there would be an answer anytime soon.

His mom looked up and smiled at him.

"Spencer, you know better than to ask questions you already know the answer to."

There was no sense of how much time was passing in the room, just that it was.

More as an abstract concept than anything.

"Come, sit with me."

He went over to sit with her, not quite sure why he had ever wanted to be anywhere else.

x


	18. Well enough alone

**I do not own Criminal Minds, **

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts.**

** Constructive criticism is welcome.**

_A/N: I am very sorry for the long wait, and there is still more to come._

X

Derek honestly had no idea what he should be doing.

His mind was racing, thoughts pushing each other out of the way, making his breath come faster than it should.

His hands were covered in Aarons blood, it was sticky, drying on his fingers.

there had been gunshots and Elle had screamed.

Running toward the screaming and shooting seemed like a good idea for some reason.

There was more noise from the first floor of the building, but it wasn't important.

As he got near the open door he could hear Elle yelling about Spencer, he could also see a guy with long dark hair pointing a gun at her head.

She was kneeling in front of a small figure that was covered in blood.

The thoughts that had been furiously making their way through his head stopped abruptly, leaving a sort of numb panic.

Derek could hear the man telling her to move, telling her that Spencer had to die.

The anger got rid of the panic, and his thoughts started moving again.

There was really only one thing Derek could do.

Only one thing that would keep Elle from bleeding out on the floor like Aaron.

He wouldn't mess up this time.

X

The cell phone wasn't dead.

Everyone in the main office was.

Emily thought she might never get the images out of her head.

Mrs. Sylvain was laying near the door, the back of her head was gone and her eyes were wide and unblinking.

Further in the office she could see two more of the office aides, leaning against the walls, heads at unnatural angles.

They seemed to be looking at each other, as if silently communicating about how much it sucked to be dead.

For some reason that made Emily want to laugh, or cry, or run screaming from the building.

She didn't, she just closed her eyes and stepped inside, making sure not to step on Mrs. Sylvain's body, or in the rather large pool of blood around it.

It was JJ who ended up finding the phone inside the drawer of a desk that had pieces of brain tissue on it, and it was JJ who called the police and explained exactly what their situation was.

Emily just stood and tried to associate the bodies in front of her with the people that she had seen talking, breathing, and living just hours before.

Now they were laying in a room smeared with blood.

X

She stood up just in time to see Spencer get hit, his eyes grew impossibly wide as blood started leaking down the front of his shirt from the center of his chest.

Before Elle could react at all another shot hit Spencer, and he started to fall as blood poured down the side of his head, turning his hair crimson in an instant.

His eyes closed and Elle screamed, not quite sure why, and not caring enough to stop and think about it.

The entire universe seemed to pause for a moment as he hit the floor with a crushing finality, and then it sped up to fracture and shatter into a million pieces of white hot pain.

Elle ran forward, ignoring the gun, and went to Spencer.

Most of the front of his shirt was already red, and the amount of blood made it impossible to tell just where the bullet had entered.

His face was already pale, the only real color on it the blood that stained his hair.

It was darker than she thought it would be, and more vivid than any color had the right to be.

She put one of her hands on Spencer's chest, knowing to apply pressure, but not sure which injury was bleeding more.

The guy was telling her to move, but there was no way she was going to leave Spencer with the sicko.

If she did he would die for sure.

"He has to die. It is the only way to make things better. If you don't move I am going to have to shoot you as well."

His voice was even, controlled, the hand holding the gun pointing at her head was steady.

It was terrifying, all of her instincts were yelling at her to leave, to abandon what was probably a lost cause. but Spencer needed her more than the possibility of death scared her.

"You have made your choice."

The tone was cold, but not cruel.

It was more an observation than a judgment.

Elle closed her eyes, and focused on the slight rise and fall of Spencer's chest that meant he was still alive.

She heard Adam start to move behind the desk and the gun went off.

The pain she expected never came.

She could hear muffled shouting, and the sound of a struggle.

She opened her eyes, Adam was standing behind the desk, he was shaking, pointing the gun at two people wrestling by the door.

There were more people in the hallway, making a lot of noise, shouting, and heading toward where they were.

She couldn't think too hard about them, because Spencer wasn't breathing anymore.

Than they were in the room, shouting, there was another gun going off, but Elle didn't look to see who else was bleeding.

It was her job to protect Spencer, she had made him leave the relatively safe classroom, and now she had to keep him alive.

Her fingers found the bullet hole as she started compressions.

Elle had never given CPR before but she had watched enough TV to know how it was supposed to go.

She could taste blood when she gave him breaths.

Someone pulled her off of Spencer, pulled her away from where he was being loaded on a stretcher.

Elle realized she was crying, that she had been crying since she had stopped screaming.

Somehow Derek was there, in front of her, his nose was bleeding.

They took Spencer out of the room, he was impossibly small, too small to be on his own.

She tried to go with him, but Derek was saying something about Penelope and Elle knew that she couldn't help Spencer any more than she already had.

She really hoped that it had been enough.


	19. I know I'm not forgiven

**I do not own Criminal Minds.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed this story, added it to their favorites, or added it to their story alerts.**

** Constructive criticism is welcome.**

X

It stopped. Aarons freaking heart stopped.

Penelope felt the blood stop pumping, felt his heart stop beating.

Time stopped, and then passed far too quickly all at once.

Somehow there were people, people that really should have been there earlier.

People that loaded Aaron onto a stretcher and left her alone covered in his blood.

Penelope didn't know how much time passed before Derek came back with Elle.

It didn't seem like very long, but her internal clock was a little skewered.

Elle was pale, too quiet, and there was blood on her face.

But she was alive.

The relief she felt at seeing Elle almost made up for the fear that had slowly been taking over her mind since Derek left her alone.

There were more people now, loading other bleeding people on stretchers and carrying them out of the room, or covering them and making everything worse.

Derek was saying something but Penelope wasn't really listening, a little because they were walking and it took more effort than it should have, and a little because she couldn't hear him very well over her heartbeat.

It had started pounding in her eardrums about the same time Aaron had stopped having one.

X

The ride to the hospital wasn't nearly as dramatic as walking out of the school had been.

Emily wasn't sure exactly what happened but she knew JJ had started sobbing, and Rossi had hugged both of them.

She was pretty sure he had been freaking out silently until that point.

Emily didn't feel like crying anymore, instead she felt kind of numb.

It was probably a good thing, once Penelope had spotted them she had started crying too.

Elle seemed to feel like Emily because she wasn't saying much, and she wasn't really crying.

She was sitting next to Derek, looking out the window.

Emily felt sort of bad for Derek, he was the one who had to tell Rossi about Spencer and Aaron.

Spencer's friend was with them, Emily didn't really want to know or care why.

She kind of felt like she wanted to sleep.

X

His chest hurt.

For some reason that thought was what woke Jason up.

It felt like he had pulled something vital.

JJ was sitting next to him when he opened his eyes.

She looked like she had been crying, and Jason felt like he should really know why.

Everything was kind of fuzzy.

"How are you feeling?"

His mouth was dry, heavy.

JJ didn't wait for an answer

"Rossi went to find out about Aaron and Spencer, I said I would stay with you in case you woke up."

Aaron.

Something was wrong with Aaron, he knew this.

JJ wasn't looking at him anymore

"One of the nurses is making sure Elle and Derek are okay,"

Something with a gun, or a shooting somewhere.

His phone.

"She said that Emily and I are fine."

He was really tired, and thinking made his head hurt.

But he had to remember.

JJ sounded angry.

"Which is weird, because I don't feel fine."

Jason could feel sleep pulling at him.

His chest hurt

X

"I'm sorry."

his mom stopped reading.

"You have no reason to apologize."

He did though, it was all his fault.

"I got you killed."

He didn't mean to.

His mom was looking at him, waiting for him to finish.

"I got a lot of people shot."

The book was still open on her lap, but there were no longer words on the page.

X

"I can't believe you bit me."

The nurse, Ashley, had to give him a shot so that Elle's mouth-bacteria didn't make his hand fall off.

Derek had a nosebleed and a broken finger.

Adam wasn't sure why he said he didn't believe it, Elle did not seem sane to him.

"If you hadn't put your grimy hand over my mouth I wouldn't have."

Anger was way better than any other reaction he could have gotten.

Penelope was fine, she had stopped crying and was sitting quietly next to Derek.

"I only did it because you were going to say something."

There was something all together wrong about a silent Elle.

"Hell yeah I was going to say something, the freak had a gun pointed at Spencer"

A strange thought, considering he barely knew the girl

Adam could hear people in the waiting room crying

He wondered if his step dad knew about the shooting et

"I was trying to save your life"

Anger just seemed to suit her better

Her voice was a low hiss, Adam was pretty sure he was the only one that could hear her

"You do realize that if Spencer dies because you stopped me from saving him I will end you."

He had no clue why he even cared about her feelings

And Spencer wasn't going to die.

Ever.

"What were you going to do? He had a gun."

X

"I was wondering if you have any news on Spencer Reid yet?"

The friendly smile the nurse directed at her made her skin crawl,

Erin hated hospitals, they were cramped and she was very aware of the fact that someone was probably dying as she was speaking.

"I'm sorry, but I cant tell you anything unless you are a direct family member."

There wasn't any reason to be smiling, children were dead.

Someone behind her started crying

"His family is dead, and I am in charge of him right now."

That wiped the smile off her face.

Good.

"He is still in surgery, of you take a seat we will let you know once he is out of it."

Erin took a seat, as far away from the crying as she could get.

"Who are you waiting for?"

She was sure the question was meant to help her feel less uncomfortable, but it didn't.

"I'm here because my daughter got shot. In school."

It just reminded her that she shouldn't be here, her children were safe at home.

She should be with them.

X

He was sitting by the lake again.

It was amazing how much he missed the lake, it had been the one good thing about their house.

He didn't ever want to leave.

Sean was happier than Aaron had ever seen him alive.

"You can't stay here forever."

For some reason, it wasn't odd that his brother knew what he had been thinking.

"I know."

It was silent for little while, both of them looking at the water.

It was cleaner than Aaron remembered.

"Are you happy here?"

Aaron wasn't sure why he needed the answer.

Just that he did.

"Most of the time."

The sun was setting over the edge of the lake, making it seem like the entire sky was on fire.

It was warm, and he was sitting next to his brother.

His brother was still ten, still breathing.

"I miss you."

Aaron didn't mean to say it.

The sun started slipping below the surface of the water.

"I know."

Sean was still smiling.

X

Victoria Anderson was panicking.

For good reason.

She had gotten a call at work letting her know that her daughter, her baby, had gotten shot.

In school.

Alone.

When she got to the hospital, she still didn't know if her baby was dead.

If she had died while her mom was stuck in traffic.

"You should be safe in school, right?"

It didn't matter if the woman next to her was actually listening or not.

She just needed to say something, because if she didn't, her baby would disappear.

She wouldn't survive that.

X

"It wasn't your fault."

He could hear voices that he didn't know.

They weren't loud enough for him to distinguish what they were saying, but they were loud enough to bother him.

"Spencer, pay attention."

His mom had put down the book

She waited until he looked at her.

"The person responsible is a very sick man, none of this is your fault."

The room was getting dimmer.

"I love you Spencer, you know that."

The book was gone completely.

"I love you too."

There was someone saying his name, telling him to wake up.

"You have to decide right now. do you want to die?"

Her voice wasn't rushed, wasn't panicked.

It was as calm as it had ever been.

"I don't know."

He didn't want to leave.

"Yes you do."

Time was passing quicker, the voices were getting louder.

"I don't want to leave you, what if I never see you again?"

The fear was irrational, and as childish as his fear of the dark

"I'm not going anywhere Spencer."

The room was almost black, his mom hidden in shadow.

Spencer opened his eyes.

X


	20. It's so quiet here

**I do not own criminal minds.**

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

X

Penelope could still see Aarons blood on her hands, even after she had washed it off three times.

Rossi was still gone, trying to get information.

He had been trying to get information on Spencer and Aaron for almost a half an hour.

"What if they are both dead and no one wants to tell Rossi?"

Elle and Spencer's friend stopped arguing and Emily looked up from the wall she had been staring at to look at her and laugh.

"I wouldn't want to tell Rossi, he gets scary when he's angry."

Elle glared at Emily, and Penelope wondered if washing her hands again would help at all.

"They are both going to be fine so shut up."

No, it probably wouldn't help at all.

X

Spencer opened his eyes and decided that light was not fun. At all.

So he closed his eyes again, but the light was still there, and someone was beside him.

He could feel them watching him, which would have been a lot creepier if he could bring himself to care.

Whatever, light was making his eyelids hurt.

"Spencer, are you awake?"

He didn't reconise the voice, not that that meant anything.

Spencer was pretty sure he wasn't firing on all four wheels or whatever.

"Shouldn't he be awake by now?"

The light was still there, and whoever was there didn't seem to be leaving.

So he opened his eyes again, and saw blonde hair and concerned eyes.

"Mom?"

He didn't reconise his voice, it was also a lot quieter than he though it should be.

"Um, no. My name is Erin Strauss, I am in charge of your living situation."

Right, his mom was dead.

"Spencer, I know that you are tired, but there are things that we need to talk about as soon as possible."

X

The air was cooling rapidly, and he remembered a gun.

"Someone shot me."

The sun was gone now, but they hadn't moved.

"Yeah, you bled a lot."

Aaron hadn't thought anything would be able to surprise him anymore.

"You saw it?"

His brothers smile faded until it was gone

"I saw everything."

Sean stood up abruptly and held out a hand for him.

"You have to go back now."

His fingers were cold, the moon was bright in the sky and Aaron was getting anxious.

"I don't want to leave you here alone."

Sean was still standing with his arm outstretched, his breath was visible.

"You'll be back. You just have to go now."

Aaron was pretty sure that if he stayed he would die, but he wasn't leaving Sean again, not this time.

"No."

Snow started to fall around them.

X

They called Julie to get him.

Adam liked Julie, he really did.

But he wasn't leaving until someone told him that Spencer wasn't dead.

X

David was almost ready to freak out, especially when he saw Erin Strauss exiting a room he had just been denied permission to enter.

He was not a huge fan of Erin, mostly because she was in charge of him, a little bit because she didn't like him.

He didn't avoid her when she started walking toward him though.

He needed information.

"We had a conversation, and he went to sleep. The doctors say that he is going to be fine."

David didn't ask why she had gone in to see Spencer, there was really only one possible reason.

"I have decided that, it is in Spencers best interests, because the situation was… resolved, to stay in your care. Is that acceptable?"

She didn't wait for a response before she was gone, which was good because David wasn't entirely sure he would have been able to talk.

X

They were inside, and his dad was there.

Aaron could hear him walking around downstairs.

The air was frigid and it felt like he was trspped in one of his nightmares.

"If you stay here, it won't end"

Sean's lips were blue, and he looked dead again.

Aaron hated it

"you have to leave."

The snow was turning into a blizzard outside, and his dad was getting louder.

"No"

He wasn't leaving, no matter what.

"It isn't up to you."

His dad was walking up the stairs.

X

It was Elle who told him, strange because he was nearly positive that she hated him.

"He's going to be okay."

When Julie got there she was crying.

Adam told her about Spencer and she sat with him for two hours until Elle updated him.

Then he went home.

X

David brought the kids home after he finally got an update from Aarons doctor.

There was nothing they could do there but wait for someone to wake up, and it was already crowded.

The sun was only just starting to set when he pulled into the driveway.

X

Julie dropped him off at his house, but didn't go inside with him.

She hated his step-dad as much as he did.

Thankfully the pitiful excuse of a human being was still sleeping on the couch, where he had been when Adam left for school.

Adam went to his room and fell asleep almost instantly.

Amanda was there when he woke up.

X

_A/N Very sorry that this took forever and that it is so short. It shouldn't take as long to get the next one up now that I know what I am going to do._


End file.
